Less Than Thanksgiving

Loneliness stole my energy as stabbed my heart. It was the first time I’d been away from my kids since my August divorce. They were headed for a week to see their dad. They needed to be there. It was the right thing for them but their absence left a space not just in my home. It cratered my heart.

It was the day after Christmas. I was supposed to still be making merry. I made a box of Scooby Doo Mac-n-cheese instead.

Does the expectation to face the holidays with gladness and cheer ever drag you down?

The reality is holidays can be draining.

They remind us of loved ones whose absence leaves us longing.
They throw us together with difficult personalities.
They slap us with the reality of fractured relationships.

So how can we find joy, when glad tidings threaten to take us down the drain? I found my answer in Psalm 95.

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

³ For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.

⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
⁷ for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care

This passage instructs my heart to engage with God in three specific ways:

Through Music (Verse 2) – God designed our souls to be moved by music. Melodies move our hearts toward His. Harmonies head our mind in His direction. Turn on some music and you’ll turn off negative thoughts.

Through Creation (Verses 4-5) – God’s handiwork calls to God’s unique imprint on each one of us. No matter how cold it is outside, something changes within us when get out in the world God made. Move out under His canopy and get enveloped in His love.

Through Worship (Verse 6) – Worship turns our sight from us to Him. It dials our hearts from the present to His presence. Exclaim His greatness and suddenly your problems seem small.

Come before Him with thanksgiving and Thanksgiving and will find you.