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.

True Friends Make Me Truly Thankful

Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.

1 Samuel 18:1

I'm penning this post at 3:00 am. Whenever I'm up in the middle of the night like this I think about crises even if I'm not having one. I ponder whom I could call if I needed someone to come stay with my kids if I had to rush to the hospital. I contemplate who would be first to volunteer their help if Scott's cancer returned. I wonder who loves me enough to gently unveil the current growth opportunities in my life.

Most of us have very few people we could count in those categories but friends like these - true friends - are absolutely essential for our emotional well-being. Forging deep friendship was my second to last step on my journey to emotional health. 

Because I moved around frequently both as a child and an adult, it's been difficult for me to foster lasting, meaningful relationships. It seemed like too much investment for a short time period and it was easier to guard my heart than risk getting heart. But I wasn't well until I had heartfelt friends with whom I could share my faults, failures and finer features. I, like all of us, needed people to know the authentic me.

...The one who's really a kid at heart.

...The one with a quick but albeit not always appropriate comeback.

...The one who enjoys working nerdy logic problems.

Today, among so many other blessings, I am thankful for true friends. You have taught me about myself. You have been God's healing hands. You have stood by me through extraordinary circumstances, mood swings and moves.

For you I am truly thankful. Happy Thanksgiving to you! Whom are you thankful for today?

Thanksgiving is a Daily Offering

Give thanks in all circumstances, 

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Next Tuesday night my youngest, Carynne, will dress as Princess Purple Sunflower. She will sing songs with her fellow kindergartners about Thanksgiving and generously share her adorableness. Gratitude is sown into the fabric of our country as a tribute to the early settlers of our nation. We set aside a whole day each year to celebrate it. But what is Thanksgiving really?

Clara - last year as
Princess Purple Sunflower

When the Pilgrims first gave thanks in 1621, every other chair sat empty. They lost half their number year one but still allowed gratitude to pour from their hearts. More than shelter, food sources or savvy with the native people, their ability to survive and thrive in this strange new country should be attributed to their basal gratitude. No matter how little they had they were thankful.

Gratitude has just a significant impact on our lives today. The simple act of pausing to acknowledge God's daily interaction in our lives, changes our outlook from dread to anticipation. Nurturing a thankful heart within me was one of the vital steps I took on my road to emotional well-being.

Gratitude allows you to view your children as blessings instead of burdens.

Gratitude changes your perspective of your spouse from commitment to contentment.

Gratitude alters your daily outlook one decision at a time. 

I have to becomes I get to. I need to becomes I'm honored to. 

As we begin to pen our Thanksgiving lists, let's not wait for the fourth Thursday of November. Let's live gratitude on ordinary days.

Days with a menu of macaroni and cheese.

Days with no time to watch football.

Days with too little paycheck and too many bills.

The real power of gratitude isn't pausing once a year, it's giving thanks every day, in all circumstances.

What's your Thanksgiving list for today? Share it in a comment below.

Today Can be my Silent Night

The warmth perched on my lap soaked into my soul. It was my favorite hour of the week - worship with my man and four little girls. My littlest one intertwined her sticky donut fingers with mine as the lights dimmed for prayer.

Eloquent, hear-felt words rolled off the tongue of the speaker but it was a nearly silent utter that captured my ear. "Thank you, God, for my Daddy. Thank you, God, for my Mommy." Sincere thanksgiving dropped from innocent lips.

Later the pastor would preach a stirring sermon on the devotion of the wisemen. I didn't really hear it. My heart pondered the power of simple praise and the unfettered devotion of the tongue who gives it.

Thank you, God, for my husband.


Thank you, God, for my children.

As I rush around checking lists and creating Christmas joy, may I not forget the joy of climbing into my Daddy's lap to inaudibly mouth words of gratitude. Jesus, may today and every day be a Silent Night.

Grateful

Philippians 1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you.

Today is Thanksgiving. Before I cook the turkey or turn on festive holiday music, I want to pause and allow gratitude to wash over my heart. I am truly thankful for:

• A husband who loves deeply and honestly
• Four daughters who look more like Jesus every day
• An early morning run with my sweetheart and my oldest
• An eclectic mix of Thanksgiving plates that add a smile to the Thanksgiving table
• A church that welcomes anyone who wants to know more about God
• A big city with a small town feel
• Family scattered about whose love I gather in my heart
• Children spread through four schools so each has her special place
• You, my readers, who encourage and challenge me every day. I'm a better woman because of you.
• Our Savior, Jesus, bearer of boundless love and unmatched grace

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

The Dance of Grace

Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. (ESV)

Music pulsed through the air as God's people lifted praises high and unashamed. Chris Tomlin's simple, God-inspired choruses had 5,000 singing loud and proud. Among the crowd was my little family of six.

As a particularly stirring song played, I watched my six year old raise her hand in worship. Five little fingers elevated to the One who is worthy. My heart beat a thunder of gratitude to God; I was witnessing a moment of true beauty.

With the last notes of that evening hanging in the air, I read Galatians 6:18, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." This is a verse I've breezed through dozens of times but somehow this time the words played a symphony on the strings of my heart.

I saw grace dance through my daughter's spirit with my own eyes. I tend to think of grace like it's an event but what if instead I considered it as the living, breathing work of God flowing in the heart of every believer? What if grace can waltz through my heart at regular intervals.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I find it relatively easy to be thankful on a day dedicated to gratitude but what about an ordinary day of preparation like today? Today I will clean floors, run errands and do dishes. Is it possible to have a thankful heart in the midst of every day life?

The key is to allow the grace of God to be with my spirit. When I sway through life to the rhythm of God's grace, every ordinary act of living becomes an extraordinary act of worship from which flows gratitude. God's grace can pervade my life because grace is not an event. Grace is God.

As you prepare for Thanksgiving today won't you join me in a dance of grace as we worship the Giver of all grace with thankful hearts?