I'm always on the hunt for a good piece of writing that encapsulates what I'm thinking and feeling at any given moment. While reading On Writing Well, last year, I came across this beautiful bit of wordsmithing from Governor Wilbur Cross. His Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1936 is a masterpiece of fine writing and expression of gratitude to God for His goodness and grace to us.

“Time out of mind at this turn of the seasons when the hardy oak leaves rustle in the wind and the frost gives a tang to the air and the dusk falls early and the friendly evenings lengthen under the heel of Orion, it has seemed good to our people to join together in praising our Creator and Preserver, who has brought us by a way that we did not know to the end of another year. In observance of this custom, I appoint Thursday, the 26th of November, as a day of Public Thanksgiving for the blessings that have been our common lot and have placed our beloved state with the favored regions of earth—for all the creature comforts: the yeild of the soil that has fed us and the richer yield from labor of every kind that has sustained our lives—and for all those things, as dear as breath to the body, that quicken man’s faith in his manhood, that nourish and strengthen his word and act; for honor held above price; for steadfast courage and zeal in the long, log search after truth; for liberty and for justice freely granted by each to his fellow and so as freely enjoyed; and for the crowning glory and mercy of peace upon our land—that we may humbly take heart of these blessings as we gather once again with solemn and festive rites to keep our Harvest Home.”

— Governor Wilbur Cross, Thanksgiving Proclamation 1936

I pray that you enjoy this day with those you hold most dear, but also that you'll pause to give thanks to the Lord for His many blessings. He has sustained and provided far beyond what we deserve. May we rightly express our humble gratitude to Him this and every day.