Echoes From Zion

Part of the fun of Thanksgiving when I was a child was all of the crafts, songs, and holiday lessons I got to do at school. From tracing my hand into a turkey, to singing songs about grateful hearts, school was always super exciting when Thanksgiving rolled around. One of my favorite activities involved making over sized Quaker hats out of construction paper. I would carefully cut out a long black hat with wide brim, then use my Elmer's glue to paste on the gold buckle smack dab in the middle of the hat. Some cool classrooms even got to make construction paper collars to make their outfit complete. But, whether you were in the super cool class or the semi-cool class  (like me), each kid would don their pilgrim apparel,  circle up for story time, and eagerly listen to the tales about the wide brimmed hat wearing pilgrims who made their impetuous journey on the Mayflower to America. Then, in reverence and adoration, they celebrated a day of giving thanks to God for their new home and

Have you ever noticed the placement of Thanksgiving on our calendar? It's right when winter has begun to settle upon us with cold winds, bare trees, and brown landscapes, that we as a nation celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. It would seem more natural to give thanks when spring flowers are in full bloom or when the first crops of the summer are brought into our barns. But instead, we offer thanks at the beginning of the bleakest part of the year. I believe that the placement of this holiday is no accident. God gave us seasons in order to teach us about His ways. In fact, I find it fascinating that Genesis 1:14 tells us that God first gave the sun, moon, and stars, not as lights for earth, but for signs and seasons. The secondary blessing is that they give us light! But the Lord first intended the natural seasons of the world to be a podium where lessons are taught. He shows us things in the natural in order to teach us spiritual truths (1 Cor. 15:46) So, what is the lesson here