Today’s scripture: I Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Julie Walsh):
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This week marks the beginning of that time of the year when feasts, family gatherings, and holiday parties with friends and co-workers start taking over your social calendar. Some years are met with joy and prosperity, but most years you feel stress and pressure. There’s decorating, cooking, baking, and shopping to do. There is never enough money and never enough time. Visits with family members prove awkward and uncomfortable. Perhaps you have been out of work and feel depressed that you are unable to find a job or to meet your financial obligations. Grief may overwhelm you as you remember loved ones who have passed away. This may be a lonely time when you wish even harder for a partner to share the holidays with. Maybe someone you care about is spending their holidays in a hospital bed or a jail cell or is deployed with the military. Or maybe it all comes down to not feeling the presence of God in your life right now. However you look at it, you’ve got the holiday blues.
Do you wake up worried about the day ahead or mentally prepare your to-do list during your morning shower? Do you go to bed at night replaying conversations and events of the day, listing regrets for your actions, inactions, words, or behaviors? Do you lay there speculating about how the day will run tomorrow, trying to determine how you will fix things, change things, or cover up for your mistakes?
With all of this clutter in your mind, how can you cope with the emotional and spiritual intimacy that the holidays bring? How do you find true joy when inside all you feel is despair?
I like to think Thanksgiving is the season opener because it is an opportunity to put your heart and your mind in focus before allowing the holiday blues to get you down. While New Year’s Day wraps up the season with an expectation to set new goals and to resolve to make changes, Thanksgiving marks the day when you can set new goals of giving thanks as part of your daily routine.
On and off for the past ten years, I have kept a gratitude journal. It is a simple way to wind down the day and to intentionally identify five things to be grateful for. Some days come easy: dinner with friends, a productive day at work, a touching song, a spouse, an invigorating worship service. Other days focus on the seemingly simple things: Kleenex, strawberries, indoor plumbing, laughter, feet. And some days when times are tough, it seems more difficult to make a list, but those five things can always surface despite the circumstances: a final visit with a loved one, frank honesty from a partner, minimal side effects from an invasive health care treatment, a denied job opportunity, receiving the regular speeding fine instead of the deserved construction zone speeding fine. Writing a five-item gratitude list as the last part of your day can help you more fairly evaluate and appreciate the circumstances of your day.
But don’t stop there! Why not start off your day with gratitude too? Instead of a journal in the mornings, look deeper into the worry, stress, or chaos you are feeling and pick something out of that challenge that you can be grateful for. Determine how that challenge is allowing you to stretch your thinking, change your outlook, or discover new alternatives.
Giving thanks as the first and last part of your day will begin to shift your attitude for the entire day. It will change your perspective and it will bring positive energy into those things that used to be clouded with judgment and despair.
Thought for the day: Begin a new routine this Thanksgiving. Consider adding this simple ritual of giving thanks to your daily routine and see what a difference it will make!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.