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Gratitude in the Middle of a War - NaPodPoMo 2025 #23 · Randy Unscripted

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  Randy Black: Randy Black.
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  Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Black. Black. Randy Black. He's a troublemaker.
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  Welcome back to Randy Unscripted.
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  I'm Randy Black, and this is another episode in our series for napod
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  promo 2025.
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  That's national podcast post month where podcasters
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  publish
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  or try to publish an episode every single day for the month of November.
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  The goal is 30 episodes
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  in thirty days.
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  And this is our continuing series that we started yesterday
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  as part of NAPOD Pomo on Thanksgiving.
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  Yesterday,
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  we looked at the the Thanksgiving that you never learned about in school, the the many celebrations and and traditions
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  that existed long before the one that we usually talk about.
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  Today, we're moving forward in time to one of the most unexpected chapters in Thanksgiving history.
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  Because the Thanksgiving holiday, as we know it today,
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  was officially established during the darkest season
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  that America had ever faced,
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  and that's the United States civil war.
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  It wasn't created in a moment of peace.
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  It wasn't created in prosperity.
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  It was created in the middle
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  of chaos.
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  And the man who made that decision,
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  Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of The United States,
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  understood something profound
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  about the power of gratitude
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  in hard times.
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  So let's set the stage.
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  It's 1863.
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  The civil war has been raging now for two years.
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  Over half a million Americans have already died.
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  Families
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  are torn apart.
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  The nation itself is literally split.
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  Every headline,
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  every telegram, every battlefield seems to carry loss.
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  Lincoln himself
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  is grieving.
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  Not only the country he's trying to hold together,
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  but he's also grieving
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  the death of his 11 year old son, Willie, just the year before.
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  He's he's carrying a weight that few of us will ever understand.
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  And in the middle of that,
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  Lincoln decides to call the nation to pause
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  and to give thanks.
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  If you look at the circumstances alone,
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  that decision
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  makes absolutely
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  no sense.
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  But when you look at the man,
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  his convictions,
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  and his faith,
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  it makes perfect sense.
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  On 10/03/1863,
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  Lincoln issued a proclamation
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  declaring that the last Thursday of November
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  be a national holiday of thanksgiving and praise to almighty God.
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  If you've never read it, it is worth finding and reflecting on.
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  The language is deeply spiritual,
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  almost even pastoral.
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  Lincoln acknowledges the suffering of the nation.
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  He does not gloss over it,
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  but he also recognizes
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  the blessings that have continued,
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  the harvest, the economy,
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  the system of government still functioning,
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  and the hope that the nation could one day be restored.
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  What's striking is how much the proclamation focuses on God's mercy,
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  on his provision,
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  on his patience with a broken nation.
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  Lincoln calls Americans to give thanks and to humble themselves, to confess national sins,
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  and to pray for healing.
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  It's a thanksgiving proclamation,
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  yes,
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  but it's also a prayer of repentance
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  and of unity.
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  So why did Lincoln think that thanksgiving
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  mattered right then?
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  Well, there's three reasons that really stand out.
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  First is that gratitude
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  unifies.
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  When a nation is divided,
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  shared rituals bring people back to common ground.
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  Lincoln knew that giving thanks would soften hearts
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  and might even shift perspectives.
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  Second reason is that gratitude reframes hardship.
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  Lincoln believed and said many times that even in national trials,
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  there were blessings to see, people to help,
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  and a future to hope for.
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  And the third reason is that gratitude directs the heart toward God.
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  Lincoln's proclamation is saturated with the language of providence.
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  Not luck,
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  not chance,
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  providence.
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  He saw Thanksgiving
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  as a reminder that the nation's hope wasn't in armies or politicians,
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  but in God.
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  That's a message just as relevant today
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  as it was in 1863.
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  Scripture
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  consistently ties gratitude
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  to perseverance,
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  especially in hardship.
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  Philippians four six says, be careful for nothing,
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  but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
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  let your requests be made known unto God.
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  And James one two and three tells us, my brethren,
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  count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,
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  knowing this,
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  that the trying of your faith
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  worketh patience.
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  Lincoln wasn't giving thanks for the war.
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  He was giving thanks in the war.
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  That's the difference,
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  and that's the challenge for us.
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  Gratitude
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  doesn't deny suffering.
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  It defies it.
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  It anchors us in the truth that God is still present,
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  still faithful,
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  and still
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  working.
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  Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation didn't end the civil war,
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  but it planted something in the heart of the American people,
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  a rhythm of gratitude that carried forward long,
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  long after the fighting had ended.
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  And tomorrow, we're going to look at someone who helped make that possible,
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  someone
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  you probably have never ever heard of.
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  Her name was Sarah Josepha Hale,
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  and she spent decades campaigning for a national Thanksgiving
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  long before Lincoln ever signed that proclamation.
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  It's a story of persistence,
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  creativity,
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  and influence from a woman outside
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  of the halls of power,
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  and you don't wanna miss it. So thank you today for listening to another episode in our napod promo twenty twenty five series,
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  30 episodes
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  in thirty days.
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  Join us tomorrow for the episode about Sarah Josepha Hale.
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  I'm Randy Black,
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  and this has been Randy
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  unscripted.