Lucy Mouse Learns about Thanksgiving – A Children’s Story

By Nancy Quinn

"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.”
Psalms 100:4-5

rrr! Lucy’s red scarf blew into her face as she scurried down the steps to her home in the basement of the town’s library. It was just two weeks before Thanksgiving; Lucy Mouse was starting to get excited about Thanksgiving because then she knew Christmas would come soon after that.

She sat down at the kitchen table and started to tell her mom about her day, then jumped up because she wanted to show her mom what she made in art class that day. A large turkey with colorful tail feathers smiled from the construction paper page. On each tail feather, Lucy Mouse had written something was thankful for.

Whiskers twitching, she closed her eyes and pictured the story she learned that day at school – the big ship, the pilgrims and the friendly Indians. In August 1620, a very big ship called the Mayflower set sail from England. They sailed in the Atlantic Ocean for a long time and came to Cape Cod, Massachusetts by accident because of the storm.

They really wanted to go to the Virginia Coast where there were already colonies started. Before they left the ship, they made the “Mayflower Compact.” This was written so they could make up the rules how they wanted to run their new colony and have freedom to worship God. The winter was very hard on them and many of them died. But the spring came and they made friends with the Indians and planted crops.

When they harvested their first crops in 1621, the pilgrims decided to dedicate a day for thanking God for the bounty He blessed them with. Their governor proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving for God and the people made a big feast and invited all their friends and family and their neighbors, the Indians.

Lucy’s mom smiled and said “You really learned a lot today!” She reached for the worn, black bible and found Psalms 100:4-5 “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.” Lucy smiled. She loved to listen to her mom read from the bible. And her favorite book in the bible was Psalms.

Lucy Mouse decided this year she wanted to help her family make Thanksgiving extra special. And the secret was in the words - Thanks and Giving. Lucy got out her crayons and got to work. She drew a turkey on a piece of paper for each person who would come to Thanksgiving dinner at her house.

Then she made five ears of corn around each turkey. On Thanksgiving morning, Lucy was excited as she put the beautiful placemats around the table. The day went by fast as she helped her mom in the kitchen, and she even cleaned her room before their guests came for dinner!

Soon everyone gathered around the table for dinner, the candles flickering as they all held hands and prayed. After they prayed, Lucy told everyone to write the things they were thankful for that year on each turkey tail feather and then to write things they would give to God, in the coming year, on the ears of corn. Lucy already knew what she would write for giving.

She decided to share her toys with her friends, to look for one thing every day to help someone with at school, to help her mom set the table for dinner, to offer to help her teacher in the classroom and to help her mom rinse the bottles and cans for recycling. Lucy knows that giving doesn’t always mean money – you can give your time and your talents to help others. And when you help others, you show that you love God!

Dear God, I know I am a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe that Jesus died for me on the cross and that He arose from the grave so that I can live with Him in Heaven someday. I am now trusting Jesus as my Savior. Thank you for loving me and saving me. Amen.