Thanksgiving: A President’s Unashamed Proclamation of the Good News
I have a lot to be thankful for this year. First, that my wife and I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. We took different paths to get to this point, but we can both summarize by saying that we were once lost and now we are found. If some of you cringe or “feel funny” hearing about Jesus, I’d like you to know that 22 years ago, I felt the same way. I encourage you to explore why you may be having those “feelings.”
I did so and have never been the same. My life has been transformed.
In September, we celebrated four years of marriage… in Oklahoma! Yes, Oklahoma where the movie REAGAN was being filmed during early September through early November. We were blessed to be a part of the production team, mostly behind the scenes. We came home at the end of October. I’m still part of the marketing team, helping with social media and press relations. If you’re a journalist and have any questions, feel free to contact me: alex@mediaonmission.org .
Which brings us to Thanksgiving 2020. The challenges have been many, as I’m sure for all of us. The triumphs may seem few and for some, nowhere in sight. However, this I know. We need each other. This is no time to isolate. None of us are immune to the devastating effects that can come from a solitary existence. Some argue that the consequences of isolation can be much worse than an unhealthy approach to curtailing the coronavirus. This Thanksgiving, seek God and be thankful in everything. Nobody is perfect, but we can overcome hardship by asking for a helping of His love. It is God’s love that overcomes all.
Like one US President exhibited in 1986 and other times as well, let us not be ashamed to proclaim the Good News!
Please take a look at a President’s Proclamation below.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Alex & Minoo
Proclamation No. 5551
Thanksgiving Day, 1986
October 13, 1986
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Perhaps no custom reveals our character as a Nation so clearly as our celebration of Thanksgiving Day.
Rooted deeply in our Judeo-Christian heritage, the practice of offering thanksgiving underscores our unshakeable belief in God as the foundation of our Nation and our firm reliance upon Him from Whom all blessings flow. Both as individuals and as a people, we join with the Psalmist in song and praise: “Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.”
One of the most inspiring portrayals of American history is that of George Washington on his knees in the snow at Valley Forge. That moving image personifies and testifies to our Founders’ dependence upon Divine Providence during the darkest hours of our Revolutionary struggle. It was then — when our mettle as a Nation was tested most severely — that the Sovereign and Judge of nations heard our plea and came to our assistance in the form of aid from France.
Thereupon General Washington immediately called for a special day of thanksgiving among his troops.
Eleven years later, President Washington, at the request of the Congress, first proclaimed November 26, 1789, as Thanksgiving Day. In his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, President Washington exhorted the people of the United States to observe “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer”so that they might acknowledge “with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” Washington also reminded us that “it is the duty of all nations 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.”
Today, let us take heart from the noble example of our first President. Let us pause from our many activities to give thanks to Almighty God for our bountiful harvests and abundant freedoms. Let us call upon Him for continued guidance and assistance in all our endeavors. And let us ever be mindful of the faith and spiritual values that have made our Nation great and that alone can keep us great. With joy and gratitude in our hearts, let us sing those stirring stanzas:
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, in the spirit of George Washington and the Founders, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 27, 1986, as a National Day of Thanksgiving, and I call upon every citizen of this great Nation to gather together in homes and places of worship on that day of thanks to affirm by their prayers and their gratitude the many blessings bestowed upon this land and its people.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.
Ronald Reagan
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:45 a.m., October 14, 1986]
Note: The proclamation was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on October 14.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by Reagan The Movie on Wednesday, November 25, 2020
