Thanksgiving is next week! Or maybe it’s more like, Thanksgiving is next week. Either way, the holiday season is upon us.
Can I ask where you are at in your excitement and readiness to celebrate?
Anne and I have felt the waves of stress and the waves of excitement sweep over us as we prepare to enter into times with family, eating delicious food, and giving thanks.
Our desire has been to be more intentional with the holidays. We have had discussion after discussion on what is really important during this time and how we can slow down and not let the holidays go by in a blur of busyness and chaos.
Historically this time of year has revealed that we often seem like we are just surviving, and when I feel like I’m just trying to survive, I whine. Yet, I know the truth is that these holidays offer a unique opportunity to worship.
So Thanksgiving is next week, and I’ve been working on choosing gratitude.
Giving thanks doesn’t seem to be encouraged by the pace and cultural focus of the holiday season. I mean, the department stores move straight from Halloween to Christmas. But cultivating gratitude could arguably be one of the most important activities to engage in, not only for physical and emotional health but especially in our walk with God.
Check out what 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says:
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
As you may have guessed, God’s will is a big deal, and for the Scriptures to tie His will to our gratitude is insightful and inspiring.
It seems like every year when November hits and Thanksgiving celebrations are near I’m reminded that I have much to be thankful for and I also realize I can be one big whiner. While there is much to give thanks for I can get wrapped up in complaining. The grumbling and ungratefulness doesn’t always voice itself audibly but it is very loud in my heart.
All too often giving thanks is short circuited; I don’t spend the time needed in order to really let gratitude refresh my own soul.
This Thanksgiving I’m choosing to focus on the “in Christ Jesus for you” part of that verse.
What do I have “in Christ Jesus?”
In short, undeserved grace in the face of undeniable guilt.
I’m soaking in that undeserved grace, and then add in the many good gifts which God has given, and I find smiling comes a little quicker, and that my soul is being refreshed.
So as you celebrate next week may you “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (1 Chronicles 16:34)
Grace and peace,
Pastor Loren
PS. As I’ve been making my own preparations to be grateful this holiday season I’ve ran across some helpful resources.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss’s book “Choosing Gratitude” has given me a greater appreciation for pursuing the choice of giving thanks, and the significance that true gratitude is wrapped up in the heart of God. She does a great job of highlighting the spiritual significance of giving thanks.
I also ran across some online scientific articles that have helped me connect the dots on gratitude and the design of our physical bodies and emotional health. Our ability to cultivate and grow in gratitude plays a key role in our mental health which influences much of our lives.
Here are some links for your own study into the science of gratitude.
(Disclaimer: Please keep in mind these online posts are written from a scientific perspective; they are not written from a solely biblical perspective. As Christians who hold a high view of Scripture we understand that gratitude has its roots in the heart of God, so the science of gratitude will only take you so far. But it is wonderful to see that God’s heart and design can be seen, studied, and celebrated from a scientific perspective. Ultimate and true gratitude is experienced as we find our deepest expressions of thankfulness directed toward who God is and what Christ has done.)
And could this be the happiest woman on the planet?