Article November 25, 1933 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from B. E. Watson

[From the Christian Advocate, New York, New York]

"Count your blessings" is the only possible text for a Thanksgiving discourse this year. It may not be the letter of the Scripture, but it is true to the spirit of the Word. It is the other way of reading the injunction, "Forget not all his benefits." It is the apostle's "Giving thanks always for all things," and, "In every thing give thanks." These people who were so keenly conscious of the reality and value of their spiritual possessions did not waste much time in taking inventories of their material liabilities. Their balance sheet was never "in the red." Why should the Christian's ever show a deficit?

Circumstances, some will say, make it unusually hard, well-nigh impossible, in fact, for Christians to feel thankful when so many things in which they have trusted have crumbled in the past year. Hope for the return of better times has been deferred until the heart is sick. The hard-earned accumulations of a lifetime yield no return, and are perhaps forever lost. A year of incessant toil in farm, garden, and orchard has been without the reward which husbandry has a right to expect. These things hurt. Some people cannot lift their minds above them. They seem to be the whole of life. To be summoned to give thanks is a mockery.

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