17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Corinthians 3:17 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
I think that November is my favorite month of the year. After all, in November, we can think about all the fun things we did for Halloween and look forward to all the good things we will do at Christmas.
But besides that, just on its own, November is wonderful. God decorates the world with the autumn leaves, and we decorate our homes with pilgrims and acorns and pumpkins and apples and turkeys and cornucopias. November is the time to celebrate Thanksgiving—but that’s easy because the beauty of November just makes me feel thankful.
This week it dawned on me that Veteran’s Day is always in November, right before Thanksgiving. That is so fitting. Freedom is the first blessing for which to give thanks. Freedom is what makes the enjoyment of all of our other blessings possible. And, as they say, “freedom is never free.” It exists only because our veterans have fought and sacrificed to purchase our liberty.
Maybe that sounds hackneyed and trite. But preachers really believe it. They’re the ones who do the funerals for soldiers killed in the line of duty.
So, on this November morning, look up and see the blessings our Heavenly Father has poured out all around us, and give thanks. And don’t forget that on the calendar—and in our everyday lives—Thanksgiving always follows Veterans’ Day. We just have to be wise enough to realize the connection.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 29 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. (On week days has a desk-job at a public school, where he used to teach Latin on closed-circuit-television.) He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where November is very beautiful this year.) Their kids include Spencer (age 23), his wife Madeline (age 23), and Seth (age 20).
