Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Like any of the big holidays, it means people are coming together to celebrate. Celebrate family. Celebrate friends. Celebrate the best moments of the year. And for some, to quietly remember the low points. Holidays and big gatherings often bring out big complex feelings. You go into the day expecting hope and joy and then something hits you. That one person whose entire personality seems to be arguing about politics says something incendiary. The person who’s a little too invested sees their team lose and they’re grumpy all day. You notice the chair that someone special sat in last year is now empty.
Wherever your stress grows out of, I hope you can keep your focus on feelings of thankfulness. Psalm 106 reminds us, “Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all his praise?” Who could ever list all the things that we have to be thankful for.
However, all that unending praise feels easily pushed aside when we encounter the reality of loss. Yes, you have so much to be thankful for this and every year. Yes, there are things that have happened this year that can cause you deep sadness. And yes, you can feel these both at the same time. We are complex people with complex minds, and if you need it, I want to give you permission to feel your feelings this year.
Feel thankful for all the blessing you have in your life. Take in the peace of a quiet moment wherever you can find it. Laugh and celebrate the joy of being around your loved ones. And those less-than-fun emotions? Experience them too. The sorrow you feel at the loss of a loved one is just an indication of how important they were, and the impact they had on your life. Your sorrow is deep because your love was deep, and we can feel thankful even through the pain.
Whatever thanksgiving brings up for you, I hope it is something you can celebrate. God loves you beyond what we could record if all the trees were pens and the oceans ink!