My sisters and I are busy preparing for this week’s Thanksgiving holiday, which has a significant meaning to us. It might surprise you to know that we are actual descendants of the first Pilgrims who joined the Wampanoag people at Plymouth for the harvest celebration we now know as Thanksgiving.
Yes, Francis Cooke and his son John (you can Google them if you like), are our relatives from way back. They came across on the Mayflower, leaving Portsmouth, England in September of 1620. After several storms and close calls they anchored at Cape Cod on November 11.
It wasn’t until the next year that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated. It was a hard year and nearly half of the Pilgrims had died. Thanks to the local Indians, and their ability to speak some English, peace and trade treaties were established and special guidance was offered by the Wampanoag regarding the ways of the land.
In early autumn 1621 the 53 surviving Pilgrims held a celebration, which today we refer to as the first Thanksgiving, to show gratitude for their bounty. The local Indians attended and the event lasted three days.
I don’t mean for this blog post to be a history lesson. Dates and figures aside, the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving is inspiring.
First of course is in keeping with our theme for the month; gratitude. After enduring a horrendous journey across the ocean, a harsh winter of cold and disease, a land that at first glance may not have appeared as bounteous as they had envisioned, and the loss of many close friends, the Pilgrims were grateful. They saw through the hardships and thanked God for His many blessings.
And then there is the reason these people even considered leaving the security of their homeland to begin with. Enduring religious and political persecution became unacceptable to them. Instead of conforming or continuing their futile protests they chose a form of peaceful action. They would set out for a new land where they could live in alignment with their own values and beliefs. They become empowered! How many of us would do the same?
While hopefully not to the same degree, we often face similar adversity in our lives each day. How many times do we endure living out of alignment with our own values and beliefs because of the views of our work (or boss), church (or church leadership), friends, and family? Do we choose to take peaceful action and move on to our own new world? Do we choose to become empowered? Or do we instead conform to the popular views in an effort to keep the peace, or complain from under the radar? Hmmm, where might we be doing this very thing in our lives right now?
Thanksgiving…Yes I’m looking forward to the turkey and stuffing and a day off work to spend with family. And, of course I’m proud to be part of the Pilgrims’ brave and hardy lineage. The Thanksgiving story however is really one of gratitude and empowerment, and for that I give thanks.
Kim,
Sister of Soul
Soulspiration of the Week:
“Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast, and toast the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased.” ~ Alice W. Brotherton
Yes, Francis Cooke and his son John (you can Google them if you like), are our relatives from way back. They came across on the Mayflower, leaving Portsmouth, England in September of 1620. After several storms and close calls they anchored at Cape Cod on November 11.
It wasn’t until the next year that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated. It was a hard year and nearly half of the Pilgrims had died. Thanks to the local Indians, and their ability to speak some English, peace and trade treaties were established and special guidance was offered by the Wampanoag regarding the ways of the land.
In early autumn 1621 the 53 surviving Pilgrims held a celebration, which today we refer to as the first Thanksgiving, to show gratitude for their bounty. The local Indians attended and the event lasted three days.
I don’t mean for this blog post to be a history lesson. Dates and figures aside, the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving is inspiring.
First of course is in keeping with our theme for the month; gratitude. After enduring a horrendous journey across the ocean, a harsh winter of cold and disease, a land that at first glance may not have appeared as bounteous as they had envisioned, and the loss of many close friends, the Pilgrims were grateful. They saw through the hardships and thanked God for His many blessings.
And then there is the reason these people even considered leaving the security of their homeland to begin with. Enduring religious and political persecution became unacceptable to them. Instead of conforming or continuing their futile protests they chose a form of peaceful action. They would set out for a new land where they could live in alignment with their own values and beliefs. They become empowered! How many of us would do the same?
While hopefully not to the same degree, we often face similar adversity in our lives each day. How many times do we endure living out of alignment with our own values and beliefs because of the views of our work (or boss), church (or church leadership), friends, and family? Do we choose to take peaceful action and move on to our own new world? Do we choose to become empowered? Or do we instead conform to the popular views in an effort to keep the peace, or complain from under the radar? Hmmm, where might we be doing this very thing in our lives right now?
Thanksgiving…Yes I’m looking forward to the turkey and stuffing and a day off work to spend with family. And, of course I’m proud to be part of the Pilgrims’ brave and hardy lineage. The Thanksgiving story however is really one of gratitude and empowerment, and for that I give thanks.
Kim,
Sister of Soul
Soulspiration of the Week:
“Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast, and toast the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased.” ~ Alice W. Brotherton
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