Pete Seger wrote Turn, Turn, Turn in the late 1950s and it became a #1 hit sung by a number of different artists, but the words are the oldest of lyrics, taken almost word for word from the Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,  a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,  a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,  a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,  a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,  a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,  a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,  a time for war and a time for peace.

But amazingly missing from this litany is a TIME TO BE THANKFUL.

This week take time to be thankful,    For the gift of your life, for your mother and your father,  For the gift of those to love and those who love you,  For shelter and food, for education and learning,  For health and employment, for recreation and pleasure,  For the companionship of pets, and all the good things in your life.  

And especially for the FREEDOM to enjoy all of these gifts and for the soldiers who protect that freedom, who go where you do not want to go and do things you will never fully understand, who put their lives on the line for you, and for all of us in the name of Freedom. 

And as you sit down to the traditional family feast, your plates overflowing with all the good things you love and look forward to on this day, as you cheer on your favorite team or go for a walk in the beautiful, peaceful world around you, take a moment to THANK those who will be at work this day; the nurses and doctors, the firemen and police, pilots and cab drivers, hotel staff, waitresses and cooks, even the clerks who man the stores should you choose to shop on this day.

Take another moment or several to pray for those who have none of the things that make your life rich and wonderful. Ask God to watch over the homeless, the orphaned and the hungry, those who are cold, alone, ill and afraid, those who are not free, those who are beaten and those who have no hope.

Because – there is a time to be thankful for all the gifts under heaven.