In two days, Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving.

This year’s occasion is the 150^th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln declaring the last Thursday of November a national holiday, a proclamation made during the Civil War.

Despite the nation’s hardships and the sacrifice of the American people – in particular, soldiers on both sides of our country’s conflict – Lincoln was mindful of the many “gracious gifts of the Most High God.”

As we gather with family this week to enjoy food, fellowship and football, let us remember to give thanks for our many blessings.  Let us remember the men and women of the armed services who put themselves in harm’s way so that we might continue to enjoy our freedoms.

As Lincoln noted 150 years ago, it is “fit and proper that [these gracious gifts] should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people.”