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Gratitude In Hard Times
What if the most meaningful Thanksgiving starts with only five kernels of corn? We revisit the holiday’s unvarnished origins and follow a line of gratitude that runs through blizzards, barracks, and battlefields. The Pilgrims faced disease, hunger, and loss, yet learned to give thanks for small mercies: a buried kettle of corn, new allies, enough wood for the fire, and the hope that the next winter might not claim them all. That stubborn gratitude didn’t ignore suffering; it taught people how to endure it, rebuild after it, and turn scarcity into wisdom.
We connect those early lessons to moments when America needed backbone, not platitudes. Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation barely mentions the Civil War and instead points the nation toward God’s character and providence. The Continental Congress and FDR did likewise, calling citizens to read Scripture, to reflect, and to anchor hope beyond turmoil. These proclamations remind us that gratitude is not a luxury emotion reserved for easy times. It’s a civic and spiritual discipline that cools outrage, tempers envy, and restores perspective when public life grows harsh.
Along the way, we unpack how the Pilgrims’ biblical principles shaped durable institutions: moving from communal sharing to household responsibility and free exchange, insisting on consent and fair purchase of land, and building common schools so boys and girls could read for themselves. These choices fueled productivity, dignity, and self-government under the Mayflower Compact. If today’s climate feels brittle and angry, there’s a path back: practice gratitude on purpose. Read a historic proclamation at dinner. Place five kernels on each plate to remember scarcity before abundance. Name one hard thing you’re thankful for. Then share this conversation with someone who needs a lift, subscribe for more history with purpose, and leave a review to help others find the show.
Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the intersection of Faith and Culture on Thanksgiving. Thanks for joining us today. Always taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Hopefully, the hot topic today is turkey. Hopefully, you are spending some family time, getting together with family, and maybe even getting to sit in a deer stand at some point over the next couple of days. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. I know Tim Barton's gonna be hunting at some point before the weekend's over. David, are you gonna get to hunt any this weekend?
David Barton [00:00:32] No, I'm not hunting any this weekend. I got too many other things going. But I don't know about this hot turkey thing. I like cold turkey on Friday after Thanksgiving's over. Come back, man, with the cold turkey. That's great!
Rick Green [00:00:41] I just like the dressing warmed up though. I don't like cold dressing. So yeah. I could go with the cold turkey. But yeah.
David Barton [00:00:48] What a wimp. Come on, man. Be a man. You can do you can do cold dressing. It's okay.
Rick Green [00:00:53] Cold potato salad I can live with. But and I can even do the turkey. But I also like a little steak with my turkey on Thanksgiving. I know, that's weird, but okay, guys. Let's talk the real reason for Thanksgiving. I I know a couple of guys that have written a few books about this kind of thing. The American story, you guys cover a lot of this history, and what a great time for us to remind folks about it.
David Barton [00:01:17] Yeah, I think there's some really good lessons this year on it too. I was just looking at some reports that that have really come out in the last couple of weeks and it's creating some furor at the federal level, trying to respond to some of the stuff. But there’s a real rise in incivility since COVID. Since the COVID stuff, when you measure incivility, the way that people treat one another, the way they go after one another, what they're doing on planes, what they're doing to flight attendants, what they're doing to each other. It it's really pretty rough. And so, I was thinking about that and think, you know, Thanksgiving is not just a day. It should be an attitude of gratefulness and thankfulness. And if you can get that attitude of thankfulness going, you scan you know, we talked about this earlier this week, this Pollyanna kind of attitude that Pollyanna was always able to see something good, even you know, when she's lying in bed with her back possibly broken and the other stuff in the movie. She's still looking for the good. And somehow, we've got to get back to being grateful, being grateful in and everything give thanks, the Bible says. We're told to be thankful. We gotta get back to that attitude, that'll change our behavior for sure.
Tim Barton [00:02:27] Well, and dad, specifically the verse you're quoting is First Thessalonians 5 18. And everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. And one of the things that I was talking to somebody, it's just Thanksgiving story. And actually, all of us have done different media stuff this week on different people's podcasts just telling different stories. And on one of them, I brought up with looking at the pilgrims and giving some compare and contrast where the pilgrims, and I think we'll come to this in a minute, how the pilgrims, their Thanksgiving was not a Thanksgiving of abundance. It was a Thanksgiving of we might not all die the second winter, right? That God had brought them friends and allies. The first winter they were largely out of food, they didn't have provision, they didn't have shelter, they didn't have fuel for the fire. And this winter they had some of that and they thought maybe we won't lose half of our number or all of us won't die this winter. But the reason I bring it up and this notion of an everything give thanks, I said it reminds me a little bit of the story of Corrie Ten Boom, where she wrote in The Hiding Place. For anybody that hasn't seen The Hiding Place or actually hasn't read the book, the book is really what you need to read. But I think there was a movie done in the 1970s that that tells a lot of the same story. But in the book, Corrie Ten Boom, her sister Betsy Ten Boom, they're both in a Holocaust camp. And where they were, the German guards were largely leaving them alone. Now, part of why they were leaving them alone is because there was a flea infestation. In that certain barracks they were in. And so, the Nazis, these German guards didn't want to come in and get fleas. And so, they left them alone. And Betsy said, we need to give thanks that God's given us fleas. And Corey's like, I'm not thanking God for fleas. This is crazy. And Betsy says, "in everything give thanks". And at the time, she didn't fully realize and appreciate again because of the fleas, the Germans wanted to leave them alone. They didn't wouldn't to go in the barracks. And because of that, they were able to have Bible studies. They were able to have prayer meetings uninterrupted, right? They weren't harassed, that they weren’t assaulted by the guards, and so they ultimately did see good out of this. But again, part of why this matters is these were not the most ideal circumstances. And I think this matters a lot of times on Thanksgiving, Dad, not to not to contradict, but I think a lot of times people look at Pollyanna and they're like, well, you know, people think everything's great and it's not great. And of course, that's not what you're saying, Pollyanna was that Pollyanna just had a positive perspective in the midst of challenging times. But certainly, when you look at the pilgrims, when you look at Corrie Tin Boom, and you realize they were in some very dire circumstances, especially right if you're in a Holocaust camp in the middle of World War II, this is not a situation where you're grateful for. I'm not thankful that God has us here, and yet they recognize Betsy and Corrie, that the Bible is true "in everything give thanks". And so, in the midst of challenging circumstances, we still need to give thanks. And certainly. And guys, I mean, even for us, there have been some times in the year that were challenging. You have seasons at times in life. And some seasons you're on mountaintops and some you're in the valleys. And you know, there's just kind of this ebb and flow at times to life, and life is not always wonderful. And yet, the example we have of Thanksgiving is not giving thanks to God for the wonderful things. That that's not the tradition of Thanksgiving. The tradition of Thanksgiving is giving thanks to God in being able to find the good in spite of so much of the negative. Because for the pilgrims, and again, I'm sure Dad and Rick will jump into this story some, but during that first Thanksgiving, they have all of them have lost at least somebody from their family. Some of them lost everybody from their family that first winter. Because those first largely six months when they're trying to build shelter, they so many of them didn't really even leave off the Mayflower. There's sickness and disease, there's malnourishment, malnutrition. There's so many deaths. And so, when you come to the first Thanksgiving, certainly they're going, Man, we have some food to eat, right? We have some homes now. But for some of them, man, my parents, they died. But some of them, my siblings or my children, they died. I'm the only one left. That's not an easy circumstance or situation to give thanks. And yet, again, backing up to First Thessalonians 5:18, the Bible tells us in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Part of God's design and command to us is to give thanks, not just because of the good times. Sometimes it's giving thanks in spite of the challenging times. But this is again the example of Thanksgiving, was not the pilgrims thanking God for all the blessings in abundance. No, it was them thanking God in spite of all of the challenges, finding the good, because God had done good, but it would have been easy for them to see the negative and let the negative overwhelm them and not be grateful. And yet, following First Thessalonians 5:18, they were able in everything to give thanks. And that really is much more of the story of the first Thanksgiving.
David Barton [00:07:25] And even to add to some of that. I was just thinking, you guys, Rick, Tim, tell me, but wasn't it in that first winter? I mean, they lost half the people, you acknowledge that. But didn't they find a buried kettle of corn kernels and they ended up eating like seven or nine kernels a day? That was their food ration for that winter when they were all dying. And you know, they were grateful even for those seven or nine kernels, whatever it was. Didn't they find a stash of corn, as I recall?
Tim Barton [00:07:53] So I will gladly jump in on this one. And that way, if I get it wrong, you're gonna be like, this kid, he's got so much learning to do. So yeah, the way the story goes is when the pilgrims are there, part of their exploring party. And early on, you know, Governor Bradford, the way that we think of him historically today, he was not governor early on. He was 30 years old when he came across. He only became the governor when their elected governor John Carver died. But early on, William Bradford was one of the individuals that was going out exploring and kind of this exploring committee, exploring party kind of formation, so to speak. And as they're going out, that they're out of food largely on the Mayflower. They're struggling, and so they're looking for something. And actually, this is also part of if you go back and read Bradford's Up Plymouth Plantation. One of the things he acknowledges when they land, it was where the Potuxic tribe had been. And again, we can come back and tell some of the stories about Squanto and God's providence in the midst of this, where Squanto was almost like this Joseph from the Bible kind of thing where he was sold into slavery, and yet God used him where he was to save countless lives. It's really kind of the story of Squanto, not to digress on that, but the Pilgrims Land where the Potuxic tribe had been, Governor Bradford of Plymouth Plantation, he writes that when he got out, that he they saw bones just spread all over. They knew something had happened, they didn't know what. And part of their exploring, they do find this large kettle, and inside the kettle, there was these kernels of corn. Now the kettle was by a grave and then this is where some people would accuse them of being grave robbers. And I would say you're drastically taking that out of context for lots of reasons. These were starving people looking for something. They don't know where they are. They don't know what they've discovered. And Bradford says they found this kettle, and inside it were kernels. And there's a lot of I've seen different historians kind of go through exactly how many kernels they had. Because at this point, there was 102 pilgrims and there was 30 to 40 crew members. So, you got a lot of mouths to feed and you're out of food. And so, Dad, kind of to your illusion, where kind of the historic thought that's presented is it was eight kernels or it was nine or thirteen kernels or seven kernels, whatever it was. And there's probably some dispute on that. So I'll with that being said, they take this kettle full of these kernels, but Bradford says that they didn't know whose it was, and they had determined that they would replenish everything they had taken. And again, I'm saying this because some people today say the pilgrims were thieves and they didn't respect the natives and they were grave robbers and all these silly accusations. When Bradford literally says, like, no, we went back and we replenished everything that was taken, and it was part of an Indian tradition, was this thought with this this grave site was the person that had died and gone before, they wanted there to be provision for them in the afterlife. Well, then the tribe, it was between it somewhere between 1616 and 1619, is what historians believe there was a disease that came and hit the Pawtuxet tribe and it wiped them out. And when it wiped them out, then at that point, nobody's coming back for that kettle of corn, largely speaking, right? That's not going to be utilized by somebody else. And the pilgrims still went back and replenished it. But Dad, back to your point, in the midst of them starving and not knowing where they're going to get their next meal and how it's going to happen, they find this kettle that has these kernels of corn and that does offer some sustenance for them that keeps them alive, at least some of them alive, going into and helping them until they can find that next meal, being able to sustain going into that winter.
Rick Green [00:11:26] Yeah, and you know, I was I was thinking about being thankful what you were seeing in the in the in the tough times and being thankful for the tough times. You guys have, I mean, we here WallBuilders have this incredible collection of all these Thanksgiving proclamations. And I think what I love most about it is that it's like that winter, it's like the the war times, where we seem to see the most application of what you guys have been saying. So, in other words, like I love the 1777 one from the Continental Congress in the middle of, you know, very little victory. I guess Saratoga might have happened by then, but and then FDR's in 1944, and then Lincoln's in 1863. I mean, you're in the middle of the worst possible scenario of of of killing each other in in your own country. Yet every one of these things were examples where we said we're gonna be thankful to God despite the bad stuff that's going on, and even thankful for the bad stuff because of what he's doing in our lives with it. And so I know we got a lot to of good stuff to be thankful for today, but y'all have shifted my focus to recognize I need to be thankful for the tough stuff too. Yeah. Instead of just wanting to get past it.
David Barton [00:12:32] You know, you mentioned that Lincoln proclamation. I was just thinking about that because when you read that proclamation, you almost don't know that a war is going on. And it's not we're giving thanks for what's happened in the war. It's we're giving thanks for who God is and for what God can do for us. And it's not about us or our situation. It's more about our relationship with him. And that that to me is one of the most striking Thanksgiving proclamations is Lincoln's, because I think there's one reference to the war in there. And it's not like the ones of prayer and fasting where they're really focused on what's going on. This one's just on being thankful to God because of who He is and where He is. So, it's that Lincoln one is one of the most impressive. And by the way, we've got that up on the website so people can see it and read it if they want to, but it's a super impressive one. And it goes back to this whole theme of First Thessalonians 5:18, that in everything you give thanks, not because of what's going on, but because of who He is and what He can do to make everything work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, Romans 8:28.
Rick Green [00:13:35] And I do recommend folks go to wallbuilders.com and just type in in the search just go to the search button and type in Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving proclamations, and it's gonna bring up, you know, a couple dozen of them right there, easy access. And read a couple of them to your family tonight over dinner, or you know, text out. I texted out several of them today. Just you know, copied and pasted and texted it to people. So yeah, I mean, what a great time to remember and to give thanks. And you yeah, I think last year we played, or maybe we read it, I can't remember, but FDRs, where he literally says, everybody spend time in the Bible. He basically says, go read the holy scriptures between now and Christmas. So, take a month to get saturated in God's word. I mean, that's FDR, that's a Democrat. You know, that's these are good reminders for us to on Thanksgiving. Let's take a quick break, guys. We'll be right back more on Thanksgiving today. Hope you're getting together with your family. Share this program with your friends and family. You're listening to the WallBuilders Show.
Rick Green [00:15:39] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us on this Thanksgiving. David is not warming up his turkey. He's eating hot turkey today, and tomorrow he'll eat it cold. He's already told us that.
Tim Barton [00:15:51] Well, hey, while we were on the break, guys, I did go and look up the story of the kettle. I wanted to confirm this, and it's found both in Mort's Relation, which was written by Edward Winslow and William Bradford. That was the first one that came out. And also, Bradford writes this account later in of Plymouth Plantation. And so both of them they talk about in both accounts, I mean they talk about finding corn, that there was a kettle, there was other heads of corn there as well. And Bradford identified they took this this large kettle back to the Mayflower. Historians think it held maybe by Bradford’s explanation, maybe about 60 gallons and it was full of kernels of corn. That is that is a big kettle holding lots of kernels of corn. But what's also cool is that even some of the stuff I was looking up, some of the articles that highlighted is that they spent several years trying to find out whose family this had like been from in this kind of area, the graveside, because they wanted to repay back to the family. They and again, because this was part of the Pawtuxet tribe, arguably speaking, and the families wiped out, they couldn't find anybody to repay. And so finally, some of their native allies they were able to say, hey, can we just can we give you something? And so, they were able to, in their mind, offer some restitution and finally peace because their conscience was so pierced. And Bradford writes about this, they felt so guilty about taking it without having someone to ask permission. Or purchase it from or whatever else the case might be. And so, it even does give further kind of examples and underpinnings of some of the moral convictions based on the biblical faith of the pilgrims that if it's not yours, you can't take it. And we took it almost by necessity. It was a godsend for them in their mind because they were totally out of, or largely almost totally out of food. And now they found some sustenance to help them stay alive while they're trying to scrounge up more food. But they know that this would belong to somebody else's. And so, the fact they spend years trying to replenish and repay whatever native family this had come from, again, speaks a lot to their character.
David Barton [00:17:58] And it seems too that as I recall, it became kind of traditional with them in after years that on Thanksgiving they would put seven or eight or nine or eleven colonels on their plate just to remind them what they used to have, what they'd had back at the beginning. And so, it was kind of like, look where we are now. And of course, the turning point for them came by their own admission in 1627 when they took the biblical teachings on economics and created what we call the first genuine free market system in a thousand years, and their prosperity, according to the governor, increased sevenfold after they changed their economic system. But they would always look back and remember w where they had been and be thankful for those seven, nine, fifteen, whatever it was, colonels that they had. And you know, in addition to we were talking earlier about Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation, he's in the middle of a civil war and still thankful and you almost don't know he's there. But I was also thinking about the Hancock John Hancock proclamation 1781, where Hancock calls for this day of Thanksgiving, and it's not because something good has happened to him, it's because something good has happened to someone else. And he's thankful for that, because that's when George Washington was saved from treason. Benedict Arnold's got this trap laid for him that would have wiped Washington out. And so, Hancock is actually thankful for something else that doesn't even specifically relate to him, which is another good indication of an attitude of thankfulness, is it doesn't have to involve me and it doesn't have to be something good for me. It can be something providential that God's doing and something that's good for other people as well.
Tim Barton [00:19:32] And Dad, as you were talking, I didn't listen to everything you said at the end because I was trying to look up did, they did they have moments where they use only limited amounts of kernels of corn? And what historians have kind of answered with that is that it's been more of a modern tradition to go back and have that. However, the reason it's in modern tradition is because after they found that kettle full of kernels of corn, there were days that they rationed themselves to only about five kernels, or that's the number that some historians have identified, but they ration themselves to a very small number of kernels of corn for that day. And so that's where again, part of the more modern tradition, it's a 20th century tradition, largely is again what historians have kind of pointed to. But they do it that the tradition where people today, you know, Dad, as you mentioned, you know, well, they did this to remember. Well, actually, no, they did that to survive during that starving winter when half of their number died. And so future generations or generations after them, in kind of a tradition going forward, would do that. Now, for most people, right, you're probably already enjoying Thanksgiving. Good on you. That's awesome. But you know, Dad, this would be interesting as we've kind of started the program with this notion that Thanksgiving wasn't for the pilgrims about celebrating abundance, it was the recognition that God had brought them friends and allies that they now had some shelter, they had fuel for fires for the winter. They actually did have some food stored up. It wasn't this abundance that we would think of with they were able to overindulge in decadence. Like, no, it would nowhere near there, but they thought they might have enough stored up that they wouldn't starve the coming winter. And so looking back at this notion, it might be an interesting family tradition to just, hey guys, before we start the meal, everybody get five kernels of corn and we're gonna eat that, and then we're gonna wait for 30 minutes, right? We're gonna wait an hour and you're like, I'm so hungry. And you're like, welcome to their world, right? This is this is what they went through for America to become America. And Dad, you have done for years presentations on some of the things the pilgrims really introduced or birthed, laid the foundation for an America that America would not be America, the America that we know and love and appreciate, or the one we want America to become again, right? To kind of make her great again and go back to those things. It wouldn't be any of those things had it not been for the pilgrims. And so this could be a really fun way to remind us of what the pilgrims had to suffer to to plant those seeds to grow the trees that we are now enjoying the fruit of the trees they planted. Dad, what are some of the things that the pilgrims did that laid a foundation for what America became?
David Barton [00:22:13] Yeah the things that I like to point to, number one, we just kind of talked about the free market system, the fact that they're the ones that really introduced that in in 1627 and how fast it worked. There were several Bible principles they applied that previous generations just hadn't seen or applied or whatever, but one of them was that if you don't work, you don't eat, 2 Thessalonians 3:10. And they in their Christian socialism had a bunch of Christians among them that were tired of working and living in that hard wilderness and they were still getting a share of what everybody else was doing. And they said, not anymore. You you're gonna have to work or not eat. And the other one that was really kind of key for them was out of 1 Timothy 5. The Bible talks about you gotta take care of your own household first. And in their Christian socialism, they were taking care of everybody else's household. And they said, you know, every one of you have property, and that's another key thing. They wouldn't take any property unless they had an agreement from the Indians, they could have that property at the price that they both agreed on. They had title deeds for it. I'm sure the Indians didn't know what a title deed was when all that started because they didn't have title deeds among themselves, but they would get a title deed so that they could show that they'd actually purchased that. And so they had their own land and it's well, you gotta provide for your own family. You got some land, go work your land, provide for your family. And when they started doing that, that's when that's when it took off and their prosperity went up sevenfold, production went up. Aptucket, Massachusetts, the first free market business in the new world. So that's huge. So they use the Bible also to create what we would call a common school education where they educated both boys and girls because every individual needs to read the Bible. Over in Europe, it's just the guys that get education. Not every guy gets an education. You gotta be in the right class. Over here, everybody's created equal, so everybody gets an education. There's just so many things that they did and did well. They applied the Bible to their justice system. Just like anywhere you've got people together, you're gonna have problems, and they had some problems, but that the Bible helped them get through the legal tangle of the justice. And instead of doing what all the European nations were doing, they did what the Bible did and actually brought justice. And there's just so many good things to point to from those guys that are just really remarkable.
Tim Barton [00:24:30] Well, I think also the fact that they had the first American governing document, right? And I say American governing document because the Mayflower Compact was written in America. It wasn't a charter that was done in Europe that they were sent over and, in the Mayflower, Compact, they had outlined that they're gonna have elections. And this is the first election process in America that is not involving the king or some royal appointed officials. And so, the Republican system of government that we have, again, you can trace it back to the pilgrims. They lay the foundation for this. So, there's so many things we can point to for the pilgrims to be grateful and thankful for. And this is something that guys, as we have been blessed in so many ways, and we think God is on the move. And so, one of many, many things we are thankful for is that God is working, God is opening doors. We are very optimistic about the future, not necessarily like just future elections, but no, that that God is moving in America, there's a reason to be optimistic. But, if it wasn't for people like the pilgrims who went through the really hard times to do the really hard things, and really it was thankless for them. There was nobody thanking them for the hard work they were doing as they were sacrificing. And yet, in the midst of their hard times, they still recognize we need to give God thanks that God has given us friends at all, that God has given us any provision, that we might not starve. We might survive. And that pilgrim attitude is such a good reminder that whether we are living on the mountaintop or in the valley in this moment, that in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us.
Rick Green [00:26:00] All right, folks, wallbuilders.com to get some of those proclamations you can read to the family. If you're gonna do what Tim suggested and put four or five kernels of corn on the table or on the plates and not the food yet, you gotta make sure the turkey's actually hot, not cold, like David's gonna eat it tomorrow. Okay, it's gotta be hot. They gotta smell it. They gotta smell the broccoli cheese casserole and all the other good stuff so that they want to eat, but then you get to give them the lesson of the of the kernels. Okay, as we're signing off, Tim, in truth, when you said you weren't listening to David, were you really looking that up or were you looking up the time the Cowboys were gonna be playing the Chiefs today? Was that really……
Tim Barton [00:26:30] Well I might be looking at like weather forecast for the hunting stand. I don't know.
Rick Green [00:26:34] You're a multitasker. Multitasker. I get it. You can you can do it all. All right, folks, have a fantastic Thanksgiving evening and we'll see you tomorrow for some good news. All right. Thanks for listening to the WallBuilders Show.
