"The Hand of Providence"
“The favorable hand of Providence” is how George Washington
commonly referred to advantages won during the Revolutionary War as a result of
weather. Any study of that war will
confirm that the weather, be it snow, rain, wind, freezes, or thaws, played a
major role in the victories of the colonies against the world’s superpower. That same “favorable hand of Providence” was
with the Pilgrims.
Experts refer to the climate of New England during the time
of the Pilgrims as the “little ice age.”
Winters were unusually long and harsh, and such was the winter that
welcomed the bedraggled travelers. It
wasn’t long before death was a part of life.
Before the end of the first winter, three families had been completely lost, and several children had been orphaned.
By spring, 50 of the 102 passengers remained. To say that the Pilgrims were spent
physically and emotionally is a gross understatement.
Yet, uncharacteristic for “the little ice age,” an early
Spring met the starved and frozen Pilgrims.
Squanto was there to help them work the soil he knew so well. This planting season would be the forerunner
for the harvest celebrated that 1621 autumn, that feast enjoyed by Pilgrim and
Native side-by-side. Once again in the line of miracles, that premature Spring literally blossomed and grew into an event
of gratitude that today we call Thanksgiving.
That early spring thaw wasn’t the only “favorable hand of
Providence” the Pilgrims sought and recognized.
A few years into their new venture in America, a drought threatened all
their progress. The Pilgrims set aside a special day, a day they would dedicate
to prayer and fasting. The day began as
another cloudless, stifling day. However,
come afternoon on that singular day, the skies clouded over, and the showers
started. Those showers continued for two
weeks and saved the plantation, as the Pilgrims referred to it.
George Washington recognized the hand of God in the battle
he was fighting, and so did the Pilgrims.
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