Getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow? You'd better stop a moment and give thanks for Sarah Hale!

Sarah Saved the Day

When you tuck into your turkey, when you salivate over your stuffing and when your pumpkin pie pleases your palate this Thanksgiving day, remember Sarah Hale and give thanks for her, too. For without her, November 28 this year might be just another old peanut butter & jelly sandwich Thursday.

A mother of five, Sarah Hale was a fighter, a “righter” and a writer of wrongs. Born in 1788, she was a woman of great passion. When she encountered injustices (such as slavery), she and her pen argued against them. When she thought there should be educational opportunities for girls and playgrounds for kids, she wrote about it. She was a poet and an author of children's books and biographies as well as the first female magazine editor in the country. And remember "Mary Had a Little Lamb?” That was Sarah.

But back to Thanksgiving. In Sarah's day, New England celebrated the holiday but Southerners didn't; they ignored it out West and most every place else in the country. This bothered Mrs. Hale. A lot. She loved Thanksgiving and felt it was necessary for everyone in the country to enjoy it together, thanking God for his many blessings. So, she started a letter writing campaign, asking politicians to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Her magazine articles implored readers to write letters, too, and one by one the states made it official - in their own states. But no national holiday. Sarah kept going, writing to President Zachary Taylor. No, he said. And then Millard Fillmore. Nope. Franklin Pierce. No, again. James Buchanan. No. There were just too many other, more pressing concerns - arguments over policies, economic issues and war. It seemed the country was in danger of falling apart, but Sarah kept up her quest and wrote again, this time to Abraham Lincoln. And he said…YES! It had taken Sarah 38 years and thousands of letters, but in 1863 President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday - a day for everyone to give thanks to God, together. Sarah Hale, a lover of Thanksgiving – called the mother of Thanksgiving - had literally saved the day.

148 years later, we still need Thanksgiving. We still have concerns. We still argue. Economic issues are everywhere and war still rears its ugly head. But I Thessalonians is also still true when it commands us to "Give thanks in all circumstances." Psalm136:1 admonishes: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.” His love endures, He will see us through it all and we are all thankful, together. Thanks for Thanksgiving, Sarah Hale!