Every November, this season arrives, reminding us—ready or not—of the essential practice of gratitude. Thanksgiving calls us to pause, breathe, and notice the blessings that shape our lives, even in challenging times.
Before President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday during the Civil War, President George Washington issued the first federal proclamation for the holiday on November 26, 1789. From the beginning, gratitude was intended as a unifying force in a young nation still defining itself.
And when President Lincoln proclaimed a national Day of Thanksgiving in 1863, it wasn’t during a peaceful, idyllic era worthy of a Norman Rockwell painting. It was an appeal issued from the center of a nation in turmoil—bloody battlefields, grieving families, and a country torn in two. His proclamation (included below) reads almost like a prayer—humbled, hopeful, and deeply aware of both suffering and blessing.
This year, much like when I first wrote these reflections in 2019, has been difficult for many of my friends, colleagues, and clients. The world feels divided and anxious. Distracted. If you listen to certain voices, you’d think neighbors are enemies and disagreement is grounds for war.
Walking through the Ford’s Theatre Museum in Washington, D.C., I was struck by the parallels between yesterday and today. History doesn’t repeat exactly, but it powerfully echoes, reminding us that division and unity have both been present before. We could use a little more Abraham Lincoln in our lives.
Once upon a time, we were taught, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” We were encouraged to choose kindness—not because we agreed with everyone, but because basic human decency held value. Today, that seems almost quaint. Social media, for all its benefits, has also opened the floodgates for something darker: false information shared as truth, hate speech amplified without consequence, and a steady stream of comments people would never dare say face-to-face. Or would they? The anonymity—or even just the distance—of a screen gives people permission to unleash words that wound deeply. It’s as if courtesy has become optional and cruelty fashionable. That rhetoric is toxic, corrosive, and unworthy of a nation with so much more to offer.
Now, more than ever, we need what Thanksgiving represents: a deliberate practice of gratitude.
Not the holiday, but the posture.
Not the meal, but the heart.
We need the discipline to seek blessings, even in hardship. Gratitude is a choice: one that shapes our words, actions, and the harvest of our days.
I continue to be deeply grateful for the people I work with—doctors, practice teams, fellow speakers, consultants, colleagues, and friends. I’m thankful for the trust they place in me—whether I’m unraveling an embezzlement case, guiding them through the financial systems of their practice, or standing on a stage speaking truth to an audience ready to hear it.
And every day, I pray for wisdom and knowledge—for each step, each breath, and each decision. That remains my constant.
Celebrating and sharing the bountiful harvest with a grateful heart.
Lincoln’s Proclamation in Context
Understanding the Civil War’s turmoil deepens Lincoln’s message: in 1861, the war began at Fort Sumter. By 1863, emancipation, banking reforms, and massive casualties marked a devastating era.
- 1863: A devastating year—Emancipation, national banking reforms, massive casualties at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, and significant battles across the nation.
- Both my 2nd Great-Grandfathers, James C. Kendrick and Levi Robbins Lawler, Sr., died from wounds at Vicksburg (1863) and Atlanta (1864).
In the middle of that unimaginable suffering, Lincoln proclaimed a national day of gratitude. Not because life was good—but because gratitude was needed.
His proclamation follows here exactly as written.
“October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
Washington, D.C.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln”
A Thanksgiving Reflection
Reading Abraham Lincoln’s words through history’s lens gives the proclamation deeper meaning. Lincoln called on a wounded nation to pause, count its blessings, and plead for healing.
And perhaps that is still the invitation today, 162 years later.
This Thanksgiving, may we:
- Recognize that every blessing is, in Lincoln’s words, “a gracious gift of the Most High God.”
- Remember those who are hurting—widows, orphans, mourners, caretakers, and all who carry unseen burdens.
- Pray for healing—for our communities, our relationships, and our nation.
From my heart to yours,
Happy Thanksgiving.
May your harvest be bountiful and your gratitude deep.