Thanksgiving Proclamation 1789

I just was sent a link to the proclamation for Thanksgiving given by President George Washington in 1789. Thanksgiving was (and still should be) intended "to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor."

You can read the proclamation in its entirety here.

If we ever needed His protection and favor, we do now. I have been feeling really humbled and saddened by the state of our world over the past few weeks (the election did nothing to calm my troubled heart, but I won't get into politics here).

I feel like we have just hit the tip of the iceberg of things to come, too. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and the knowledge and testimony that I have of my Heavenly Father's love. I know that I will continue to receive guidance from the Holy Ghost, guidance from my church leaders (especially the prophet and apostles), and guidance from the scriptures to get through these times. I am grateful to have listened to our leaders and that we have food storage and little savings (wish we had more, but we're working on it). Times may get rough for us, but the spirit will comfort us and we need not fear as we are prepared.

I told the kids that I wanted to gather them under my wing and protect them from all that is going on the world. Ammon said, "I didn't know you have wings" and then started laughing hysterically. Once we got his laughter under wraps, we talked as a family about some of the things going on (not just about the financial recession, but the spiritual recession). We made a commitment to work harder as a family to dedicate ourselves both collectively and individually to serving the Lord and learning gospel principles. I've decided that I need to re-institute daily devotionals with the kids. When Dallin was born, that got pushed aside, but I need to recommit myself to teaching them on a daily basis. I feel that once a week during Family Home Evening isn't enough because their world when they are adults will be much worse than it is even now.

I'm sorry to my readers (like I've got crowds of you - HA!) for the seriousness of this post. It's more for myself and journaling than anything, but if you want to comment, you're welcome to it.