Atlanta Daily World

THANKSGIVING

Someone has well said 'the fragrant flower of thanksgiving, which blooms in the heart of God's people, is the result of a little bud called praise which is firmly affixed to the stem and stalk of Christian faith.' Praise is the instinctive outburst of adoring worship that rises from a pure heart, from one who knows that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. The Psalms, which are the music rooms of the Bible, are filled with songs of praise. 'Forget not all his benefits,' says the psalmist in that mountain peak of praise, Psalm 103. Remember but a few of them, and the heart is filled with praise.

Mark Guy Pearse says, 'I was walking along the street one winter's night, hurrying toward home, with my little daughter by my side. She said, 'Father, I am going to count the stars.' 'Very well, go on,' I said. By and by I heard her counting. Two hundred and twenty-three, two hundred and twenty-four, two hundred and twenty-five. 'Oh, dear,' she said, 'I had no idea there were so many.' 'I sometimes say to myself, 'Now Master, I am going to count thy benefits.' Soon my heart sighs, not with sorrow, but burdened with such goodness, and I say to myself, 'I had no idea there were so many.'

Some one offered this wise prayer of thanksgiving: 'O Lord, receive our thanks for all thy manifold mercies towards us, and grant us thankful hearts which double all thy blessings and enjoy them twice in fruition and remembrance.' It is true that a thankful heart doubles our blessings, causing us to enjoy them twice—in fruition and in remembrance.

Cocks converted to chiming.

These were the words of a watchmaker's advertisement. Conversion to chiming is exactly what some people need. In the midst of gloom and sorrow, what a call there is for bright Christians who can advertise the grace of God which is able to dispel all sorrow and care. Many are converted who are far from chiming and they require the change that can fill their lives with a music never dying.

'If Christians praised God more, the world would doubt him less. But we forget. And that forgetfulness is sin. The Israelite entering Canaan were warned: "Beware that thou forget not." They were to remember gratefully the God of might who had brought them in and remembering, they were to give him both gratitude and obedience. The very abundance of God's benefit is apt to make us forget the giver in our satisfaction over the gift.

A fire may die from excess of fuel as well as from the lack of it. You cover the fire with coal and leave it a while. The coal presses down heavily on the ember and burns a hard crust on top. When you return, the fire is almost out; perhaps it is out; it has been killed by excess of fuel, not from lack of it. If a spark of glowing red is left, however, the fire may burn again. You stir it up. You push the iron through the dark heart of it and break up the crust; you let in the air. So, when the multitude of life's good things make us forget the Giver, Thanksgiving Day comes along to remind us that the soul must not be stifled under the load. How is it with our gratitude? Is the glow gone? Has the abundance of God's goodness to us made us careless? Let us push the iron of this Thanksgiving thought home and break up the crust of indifference, that our souls may break forth into flame.

'Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits.'