I would have been tempted to boycott the first Thanksgiving service. Wouldn’t you? Think about what our forefathers had endured the previous year. From our pampered perspective they didn’t have much to be thankful for.

In the late summer of 1620, over one hundred Pilgrims dared to embark on a hazardous, 3,000-mile journey from England to America. They craved a new beginning in a land where they would be free to worship God without government interference.

Our forefathers were confident they were following God’s guidance, but their trip to America was beset with numerous complications. They initially set sail on two small 100-foot vessels. The Mayflower accommodated over 100 passengers and The Speedwell carried most of their supplies. They weren’t even out of the English Channel when the Speedwell began taking on water. Both ships returned to port for repairs.

A week later the two ships took sail again and got 300 miles out to sea when they had to turn around a second time because the Speedwell was taking on water again. It was now dangerously late in the season but the hearty religious separatists were determined to proceed anyway. Twenty people volunteered to stay behind while 102 brave souls boarded the Mayflower with as many of their supplies as they could cram on board and headed out to sea a third time.

Much to their dismay, about half way to their destination, The Mayflower encountered a tropical storm with winds of fifty miles per hour producing enormous waves that threatened to capsize them. Even the experienced sailors were fearful for their lives. There was nothing they could do but plead with God to spare them.

The seas became so rough the passengers were confined to the hold and got very little fresh air. They tried unsuccessfully to prevent the rats and insects from eating their food but it was nearly indigestible. Everyone got seasick. Passengers were vomiting in pails and the stench was unbearable.

Finally after 65 long, agonizing days they spotted land. However, they were fifty miles north of their target: the Virginia Colony – the name given to an undefined territory that had been discovered a little over thirty years before. Keep in mind there were no hotels on Cape Cod, no one to greet them, no one to advise them as to best practices. There were hostile Indians lurking in the woods. Winter was coming.

That first brutal winter a terrible flu epidemic hit and half of them died. The Pilgrims buried their dead at night so the spying Indians would not know how depleted their ranks were.

When spring arrived, those that survived prayed, planted seed, erected more stable shelters and worked to eek out a sufficient harvest to sustain them through the approaching winter. It was then that they paused to have a service of thanksgiving to God for His goodness. We’d have a gripe session. We’d probably give God a piece of our mind. They quoted Psalm 100: “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness, come before him with thanksgiving. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Could you give thanks if you had prayed for a smooth journey and barely survived? Could you praise God for His goodness if half of your loved ones had died? Could you shout for joy if you were one of fifty people scraping to survive in a terrifying territory with no electricity, no cell phone, no television, no internet, no running water, no health insurance, no police protection and no guarantee you’d live through the next winter? They did.

What made them so spiritually strong and mentally tough? They considered themselves STEPPING STONES. With our consumer mentality we consider ourselves keystones. We assume we’re the center of the universe. It’s all about us – our needs, our comfort, our desires. But the pilgrims knew it wasn’t about them, it was about God’s will and it was about the welfare of their descendants.

That’s why they were thankful. Their sacrifice had paid off. There was hope for their children, their grandchildren and future generations. Their descendants were going to be free to worship God, free to employ their gifts and free to reach their fullest potential. That’s what made them thankful and that’s what eventually made America exceptional.