One is an unhappy memory of a fight my dad and I had when I was 12. Another is the smell of turkey cooking in our oven. And the third is a painting by Norman Rockwell that I think is the quintessential Rockwell and Thanksgiving icon.

We all remember it, I'd guess. Grandma bringing in a huge turkey while grandpa waits to carve. And the faces of the children and grandchildren all bright with expectation. It is what we all hope Thanksgiving dinner is like.

This painting is part of a series of four created for the Saturday Evening Post in 1943. The idea came from a speech by FDR given on Epiphany, 1941. This is, in part, what the president said.

"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world."

Freedom of worship. Freedom from fear. Freedom from want. And, freedom of speech. For FDR, these were the universal rights of all human beings. I'm sure we could all add things to that list, but it's a truly good start. Especially when you consider that this was said under the shadow of what would become World War II.

It was in the midst of war that Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, "I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

And now, as we are still in the midst of a global war we come together, in all parts of the country, to give thanks to God, for all of our blessings. On this day, I think it appropriate to give thanks to God for the freedom with which we are blessed.

Our society is not perfect. There are flaws. But yet, the four freedoms are the beacon to which we strive.

There are those who say that our freedom to worship as we are led is being eroded, and maybe it is. But, we have all heard the stories coming out of Nigeria, Uganda and the Sudan where proclaiming the Christian faith can lead to persecution, imprisonment and even death. There is not a religious expression in this country that faces anything remotely resembling the persecution and martyrdom of these faithful.

I thank God for that.

Not everyone will sit down to a feast today. Some in this country will go to bed hungry. I've never known hunger. When I have traveled in Honduras I have been greeted as an honored guest and offered coffee and bread from people who would not eat because they had given away their daily food. I learned something about the hospitality of Christ in this poor, truly oppressed and exploited children of God. Few of us will ever know true, grinding poverty.

I thank God for that.

It seems to be a fad now a days to complain that our freedom of speech is being limited, and maybe for some it is. Ask Nelson Mandela about the freedom of speech. Or Solman Rushdie the Iranian author and social critique who lives with a price on his head for speaking his mind. Where else can someone stand up and denounce the very land in which they can and do speak? I don't have to agree with the majority and still be a patriot.

I thank God for that.

Freedom from fear. That's a hard one. I don't think FDR had any idea, in 1941, about the potential horror that his Manhattan Project would bring. I don't think he had any idea that men and women would strap bombs on themselves and kill innocent people. I don't think he could have imagined people willing to fly planes into targets. He'd learn soon enough about that, although never in the way perpetrated in 60 years later.

I don't think the government can ensure us the freedom from fear. It's not a commodity that can be developed by ad agencies, or by the spin doctors at every level of government and commerce.

No, fear falls in the prevue of God and God alone. There are a lot of bad things that can happen to us. We are all too aware of that. But there is something that no one can take away from us. And, that is the knowledge that God is with us. We may be afraid of something bad happening to us, but we need not ever fear that God will abandon us.

God gave us his Son, not so all the bad things would go away, but to promise us that he will never go away. Evil may have its day, but god's faithfulness will have every day from now and forever.

And for that, I am truly thankful.