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Many Good Thanks

8/29/2014

7 Comments

 
PictureBrownscombe, Jennie Augusta.
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth. 1914.
Wikipedia.org. Web.
29 August 2014


Many Good Thanks
According to Mayflower Dreams, '"Many good thanks" is a Pilgrim common saying. This phrase means "Thanks a lot" (Petit 396). The Pilgrims were thankful many times, including during their 3-day Thanksgiving celebration with Native people in 1621.
Like the Pilgrims, we also have been thankful at many times and in many places. If you would like to share ideas about Thanksgiving or another wonderful experience, you can do so on this blog page by clicking onto "Comments." Karen Petit will be showing some of this page's Many Good Thanks blog entries during upcoming Mayflower Dreams presentations and/or book signings. Thanks so much, and may God bless you!

Twentieth Century John Robinson Journals
Dr. Karen Petit's grandfather, John H. Robinson
(1908-1988),
was a descendant of
the pastor to the Pilgrims (Rev. John Robinson: 1575-1625). In the 1950's and 1960's, John H. Robinson wrote some journals. His entries included his thanks for being being blessed by God. He was able to travel on many wonderful trips, including one to Hawaii. John Robinson also was thankful for his family and for his job at the Rhode Island Yacht Club. The photo images in this blog section show a few pages from his journals.
Picture
Picture
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Thanksgiving Message
Despite the many problems encountered by the Pilgrims, they were still thankful to God for the many blessings in their lives. This thankfulness is described in Jen Cowart's article about an interfaith "Thanksgiving Message 'Cultivating Gratitude.'"

According to Jen Cowart, in November 2013, the Cranston Interfaith Clergy Association and members of their congregations heard a guest speaker from Jerusalem: Rabbi Michael Klein-Katz. In addition to talking about the Pilgrims, Klein-Katz also spoke about a Harvard Medical School study of gratitude. Six methods of "living a grateful life" were mentioned: "Writing thank you notes to others, thanking others mentally by thinking of them, keeping a personal gratitude journal, counting one's blessings, praying and meditating."

More information about Thanksgiving and gratitude is available in Jen Cowart's article "Thanksgiving Message 'Cultivating Gratitude,'" which appeared in the Cranston Herald, cranstononline.com, on November 27, 2013. This article is still online at: http://cranstononline.com/stories/Cultivating-gratitude,87769?search_filter=thankful+and+god&content_&town_id=3&sub_

Thanksgiving Poem:
A May Flower in November 1620
by Dr. Karen Petit


The flowers of May were blooming away
in summer's great warmth and fall's wintry air.
A petal broke off, went sailing astray,
into the wind, with a Separatist’s prayer.

It paused in the sky with the blue turning gray;
then continued its trip 'til wooden beams were near.
When one of them cracked, the petal did say:
“I fear for my life! This storm’s so unfair!"

"But I know, in this world, many are things unfixed."

"'cause I trust in my Lord, to Him I’ll pray.”
With prayers and repairs, the beam was soon fixed.
“I thank thee, Lord, for strengthening my 'May.'”
The voyage moved on; many problems eclipsed.
In November within a New World’s bay,
the flower became Mayflower in-mixed.


Thanksgiving Bible Verses
  • "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thes. 5:18 RSV).
  • "The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him" (Psalm 28:7 RSV).
  • "Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6 RSV).
  • "O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!" (1 Chron. 16:34 RSV).
  • "Then we thy people, the flock of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever; from generation to generation we will recount thy praise" (Psalm 79:13 RSV).

Copyright © Karen Petit 2014-2018. All Rights Reserved.
7 Comments
Karen Petit link
9/1/2014 08:18:35 am

Today, on Labor Day, I am especially thankful for being healthy enough to be able to write novels while also working at the Community College of Rhode Island, one of the best colleges in our country!

Reply
Chris P
9/8/2014 01:29:27 pm

Living as we do today there are many things we take for granted which our ancestors would consider miraculous. We always have abundant food, clean water both hot and cold, literally millions of people working together to create what we take for granted.

Being grateful is a state of mind which only benefits us so there is no need not to cultivate it.

Reply
Karen Petit link
9/9/2014 11:03:24 am

We often think about the wars and other negative things that happen in our world, but you're right: millions of people today do work together to help each other out.

Reply
Cathy
9/11/2014 04:19:01 am

I am thankful for my wonderful family that has always supported me and loved me even when I was not easy to get along with.

Reply
Karen Petit
9/14/2014 09:03:04 am

I am also very thankful for my family. Even when I seem to be too busy for them, they are always helpful and loving.

Reply
Karen Petit link
9/14/2014 12:15:16 pm

When I was in my early twenties, I experienced a wonderful miracle that happened after I slipped and fell down my front stairs. My left ankle was seriously sprained or broken. The pain was so bad that I couldn't move. I was sprawled on the sidewalk and didn't know what to do.

Then my one-year old son, who was still inside the apartment, started screaming. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even crawl up the stairs to see if he was okay. I prayed to our Lord for help. After praying, I looked around--I was expecting that someone would come by, see me, and call an ambulance. However, noone was there. Instead, my ankle suddenly stopped hurting. I stood up, got my son, and went grocery shopping.

In the next hour, a couple of strangers asked me if I was okay. They even pointed to my ankle. Even though my nylons were ripped, and my left ankle looked really bad, my ankle felt completely normal. It wasn't numb; when I walked, touched it, hopped on it, and did other activities, my ankle felt normal.

Several of my relatives saw my ankle and wanted me to see a doctor, but I was scared the pain would come back. Over the next few weeks, my ankle gradually returned to looking normal. No scars were left, and the pain never returned.

This was a miracle that I couldn't deny. I couldn't tell myself that I had just imagined some kind of temporary pain because, for several weeks, I could see the injury. Other people also saw the injury.

I am so thankful for the way God healed my ankle. I found out miracles not only happen, but God decides how they will happen.

Reply
Karen Petit link
9/16/2014 11:26:21 am

Many miracles happen in our world. A couple of weeks ago, a helicopter crashed into the sea, and all of the 25 people survived. Brad Lendon's CNN article "'Miracle at sea': 25 Survive Marine Copter Crash" (Sept. 3, 2014) has some added information about this crash, including a quote that was written by Audie Mangola on a Facebook page: "THANK YOU GOD!!! FOR THE MIRACLE AT SEA!!!" Here's a link to Lendon's CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/02/world/africa/marine-helicopter-crash/index.html?iref=allsearch.

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