BJU Press Blog

Eileen

A Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving

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The First Thanksgiving by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

When you hear the phrase “the first Thanksgiving,” what are some images that come to mind? You have probably seen enough artists’ renderings of this event to have a mental picture of fall trees, a table loaded with traditional Thanksgiving fare, and an assortment of Pilgrims and Wampanoags enjoying a peaceful meal together. A number of historians have exposed the mythical elements in scenes like that. For example, while there might have been turkey at the feast, there would not have been potatoes. The Pilgrims would have lacked sugar for sweetening cranberries and ovens for baking pumpkin pies. The menu may have even included such nontraditional items as mussels, crabs, and eels. Since furniture would have been scarce in Plymouth Colony, even the table itself is a questionable detail.

Historical errors have also crept into the way Pilgrim clothing is depicted. Large buckles on hats and shoes were not affordable for common people, and Pilgrim men probably would not have worn them even if they had been. Written records of the Pilgrims have revealed that they wore bright-colored garments, especially for festive occasions, rather than mournful black.

It’s also possible that the presence of the Indians at the Thanksgiving feast was not entirely comfortable for the Pilgrims. No doubt there were lingering tensions on both sides, despite peaceful relations on the surface.

But perhaps the one thing most of us lack in our mental picture of this feast is an understanding of the Pilgrims’ state of bereavement. The Pilgrims were undergoing a period of deep personal grief. Only about half of their number who had voyaged on the Mayflower had survived the first winter. Nearly every family had experienced a death. Only four of the married women were still living. Most of the Pilgrims at the feast were men or children under the age of sixteen.

The exact character of the 1621 harvest feast is a subject of debate. Some scholars think it was more of a festival than a serious religious holiday. But whatever the mood of the occasion, the fact remains that even in the face of excruciating personal trials, the Pilgrims took a day to celebrate God’s goodness. The Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving teach us that giving thanks is an act of faith. A truly thankful person looks beyond the present difficulties to see God’s gracious hand opened, giving what is best. May we be reminded this Thanksgiving Day that we too are pilgrims on a journey planned and guided by an all-wise God. May we have the faith to lift our eyes above life’s barren fields to thank God for His bountiful blessings—past, present, and future.

What are you thankful for this year?

Apples for My Teachers

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Autumn is the season for apples. Nearly every teacher has been the recipient of an apple before—at least the glass, gold, or plastic variety if not a real one. Giving a teacher an apple is a student’s way of saying thank you for helping him or her understand something. An apple is both tart and sweet. Like apples, some lessons can be swallowed with joy, and others go down with a sharp tang. Today I would like to say thank you for both kinds of lessons. Here are some apples for my teachers.

Apples for my Teacher

To my kindergarten teacher—thank you for getting so excited when I told you I had trusted Jesus as my Savior the night before. Thank you for asking me to share the news with the other students. You gave me my first early taste of the magnitude of what Christ had done for me and the importance of sharing it with others.

To my first-grade teacher—thank you for cleaning the blood off my chin when I disobediently ran after you told me to walk and fell on the slippery floor. Thank you for still letting me be a Pilgrim in the Thanksgiving play the next day, and for not allowing the other kids to tease me about my stitches. I still have the scar, and I still have the memory of your kindness.

To my second-grade teacher—I remember all those red checkmarks on the clock page in my math book. I honestly thought I would grow up never being able to tell what time it was. Thank you for working a little extra with me so that I could understand.

To my fifth-grade teacher—thank you for not letting me get out of doing oral book reports, even when I cried at the thought of standing and speaking in front of the class. Now I stand in front of a class on a regular basis. I’m so glad you stretched me to trust God and overcome my fears.

To my high school English teacher—thank you for assigning us so much writing. Thank you for teaching us that we could write “I don’t know what to write” in our journals until we thought of more words to put down. I wrote that statement less and less often as the years went on because there was just so much to say, and I felt like you would be interested in whatever I put on the page.

To my high school math and science teachers—thank you for making me think. Thank you for making me work hard. Thank you for bringing joy even to subjects that were difficult for me.

To my high school speech teacher—thank you for letting me do duet acting with my best friend for the speech contest. You will probably never know how many nights I spent wakeful hours dreading that contest. But being able to act with a friend took almost all the fear away and actually made it fun. Thank you for teaching me that with God’s help, we can actually enjoy doing hard things.

To my high school history teacher—thank you for challenging me to think critically about the events in my history book. Thank you for teaching me that if we don’t learn from the mistakes of the past, we are in danger of repeating them.

To all my teachers—you would probably be surprised how often I still think of you. Now that I’m a teacher too, I realize how much I learned from you—not just from what you said, but from who you were and how you lived. I realize how you prayed, labored, and sacrificed to invest in my life. You deserve so much more than an apple. Thank you is the very least I can say. May the Lord bless you as richly as He has blessed me through you.

Remember

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The day is here again. If you’re eighteen or older, you can probably remember where you were on this day thirteen years ago. When I heard the news that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center towers, I was at my desk developing an English lesson. Suddenly only one pronoun mattered—Who?—along with a very important adverb—Why? Fresh waves of horror washed over me as the day went on and I learned the answers, saw the images, and heard more details about the atrocity.

For some, the horror was much more personal. Thousands lost family members, friends, and loved ones in the tragedy of 9/11. The following year, September 11 was designated by President George W. Bush as Patriot Day, a day of remembrance. Americans continue to set aside this day to honor the memory of the nearly three thousand people who died in the terrorist attacks. Included in that number are those who died in the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, or aboard the four hijacked flights as well as the heroic emergency personnel who lost their lives in the rescue efforts.

National September 11 Memorial South Pool
National September 11 Memorial South Pool by NormanB/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-3.0

Why is it important to remember? Why should today’s children who have no memory of the day be aware of this horrific event? Reasons are probably rapid-firing through your mind like machine gun shots: to learn to abhor evil, to learn to revere true heroes, to know how our nation has responded to terrorism in the past, to think critically about appropriate responses in the present and the future. But perhaps the greatest reason is to remind our children to who to turn to in the midst of national crisis. What exactly should be going on in a Christian’s mind during a “moment of silence” on Patriot Day? Who is our only true refuge and strength, constantly available for help in any time of distress and bewilderment? Psalm 46 is a great place to begin answering these questions.

One way to help today’s children commemorate this important day is to visit the 9/11 Memorial website. Here you can find lesson plans, view webcasts, and listen to stories from first responders and survivors. The website also offers interactive timelines and a name finder for the memorial that now stands at the attack site in New York City. If you live in that area, you could personally visit the 9/11 Memorial and explore the collections housed in the museum. Whatever you do, don’t miss this golden opportunity to shape the worldview of the next generation. Don’t let September 11, 2001, go unremembered.

It’s About Relationships

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Natalie, a high school senior, recently shared some unsolicited thoughts with me about the kind of teacher she admires. Natalie has been educated in two different Christian schools, at home, in a homeschool co-op, and at a community college. She has pretty well “seen it all.” But in each setting, a certain kind of teacher stood out above the rest.

“I respect teachers who know their subject, teach well, and keep order in class,” she said. “But I really like teachers who are also willing to be your friend.” She quickly clarified. “Not that they get too buddy-buddy in a way that downplays their authority. But just that they show you they care about you as a person, not just as a student.”

image of a teacher and student with the caption "Things I've learned from teaching."

Natalie summed up one of the most important things I’ve learned as a teacher. Teaching is not just about imparting information. Teaching is about relationships.

In a world where the word relationship is fraught with ambiguities, Natalie understands that the way a teacher relates to a student must be guided by wisdom and a sense of appropriateness. With that in mind, here are a few ways we can relate to our students as a friend who cares about them personally.

1) Pray for them. Keeping track of their prayer requests is one of the best ways to learn what’s important to them. Ask them for updates from time to time, and don’t just say you’ll pray, but really do it!

2) Take an interest in their families, hobbies, and pursuits outside of school. Converse with them about family members and pets. Ask them what they did over the weekend. Attend some of their recitals, plays, or sporting events if possible. Send them birthday cards.

3) Be willing to share. Students respond to transparency. As appropriate, mention your own prayer requests, relate a family story, or share something God taught you in His Word that morning.

Christ Himself is a wonderful model in this area. While on earth He chose and trained twelve men who, with one exception, would lead His church after His return to His Father. He took a deep personal interest in each of these men. He traveled with them, ate with them, prayed with them, worked with them, and conversed one-on-one with them when they had questions or needed guidance. He called them His friends (John 15:13-15). Shouldn’t we who name Him as Lord follow His example?

5 Educational Sites in the Southeast

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Wanting to add educational value to your vacation? If you live in the Southeast or are planning a summer trip that way, check out these five historical places that bring learning to life.

  1. Castillo de San Marcos

    Located in St. Augustine, Florida, this is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Built to protect Spanish interests in the New World, the fort’s construction from a rare type of limestone made it unusually durable. Though a number of different flags have flown over the fortress, it has never been taken by force. Learn the uses of the rooms inside the fort, and watch a historic weapons demonstration on the gundeck.

  2. Old Salem

    This historic district offers a unique way to learn about the Moravians, Protestant missionaries from what is now the Czech Republic who settled in the area around Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the mid-eighteenth century. You can see pewterers and shoemakers plying their trades in period dress, attend an heirloom puppet show, learn a German paper-cutting craft, and sample crisp Moravian ginger cookies.

  3. Boone Hall Plantation

    This picturesque plantation is nestled in the coastal area near Charleston, South Carolina. Larger than most plantations of the pre-Civil War era, it features a long driveway up to the house, lined with live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. Visitors can tour the grounds, browse through cabins that housed the plantation’s slaves, and maybe even spot an alligator in the pond. A seasonal presentation highlights the Gullah culture brought to the region by enslaved people of West Africa.

    the front of Boone Hall Plantation home
    Boone Hall Plantation

  4. First African Baptist Church

    Step back into church history in Savannah, Georgia, with a visit to North America’s oldest African-American church. A stained glass window features George Leile, the church’s first pastor after its organization in 1773. The church still has some of its original pews and a special design on the ceiling that signified safety to all who entered. Beneath the auditorium floor is a four-foot-high crawl space that may once have sheltered fugitive slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.

  5. Carl Sandburg Home

    Tucked away in Flat Rock, North Carolina, is the house that belonged to the author of such unforgettable poems as “Fog,” “Grass,” and “Arithmetic.” A guided tour takes you through rooms filled with old books and cozy furnishings—including Sandburg’s typewriter. Visit the goat barn, where the poet’s wife raised prize-winning goats. And be sure to hike around the lake. It’s the perfect place for aspiring poets to pause and scribble a few lines of their own.

looking across a river at the Carl Sandburg Home
Carl Sandburg Home

What interesting historical places have you visited?