Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. – Ecclesiastes 9:7
On this day in 1789, the first Federal Congress passed a resolution, just before leaving for recess, that requested a national Day of Thanksgiving be proclaimed by the president. President George Washington complied just days later, calling for the first “Day of Publick Thanksgivin” since the adoption of the U.S. Constitution to be observed on November 26, 1789. President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving in 1939 from the last Thursday of November, thus established by President Lincoln, to the third Thursday to allow more time for Christmas shopping. Sixteen states refused to change the date so there were two different dates celebrated as Thanksgiving Day for two years. Congress ended the confusion in 1941, designating the fourth Thursday of November as the official holiday, which President Roosevelt approved in December of that year.
As the Lord leads, pray with us…
- For members of the House and Senate as they amend and negotiate each chamber’s proposed legislation.
- For the president and his advisors as they consider the legislation that will be signed.
