The power of gratitude. It can turn everything around.
Did you know….?
Your brain can’t hold gratitude and anxiety at the same time? God designed us that way. If you aren’t in the habit of practicing gratitude, there is no better time than right now to start a practice. I mean…..it’s Giving Thanks week! And….it’s the antidote to anxiety!
So what’s all the fuss? So many years I got all caught up in the fuss of making everything perfect or focusing on what to make, fix, consume. I kind of missed the point. Giving thanks went kind of by the wayside and was treated like a, ‘oh ya-thanks Lord-for everything.’ No exclamation point. No being bowled over at the ridiculous generosity of a holy God. Did you know? More than giving us all that we need for existing (air, water, food, shelter) He created us for relationship with Him. Very close to ‘in the beginning’, sin entered our world-infecting every one of us. Life as it should have been was shattered. Forever bruised, marred, scarred. In fact we are so infected with this thing, this disease called sin that we would be forever eternally separated from God except that, and here is the ridiculous, fierce-love part…
He sent His Son, Jesus to pay the price for our sin because He didn’t want us to be eternally separated from us. He loved us that much! Better….so much better than a turkey dinner with all the trimmings!
His Word says in John 15:13, ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” So that is exactly what Jesus did. No one took His life. He certainly had the power to save Himself. But He willing laid down his life for us, for radical, sold-out relationship, eternal. Imagine it. Would any one of us give up our kids’ lives to save the world? I doubt it. I can’t even imagine it.
His sacrifice makes me think of all the people who are active duty, active reserves, veterans of the military branches. Every one of them signed their names on the dotted line, willing to die for our country, for our freedom-willing to lay down their lives for us (their friends). I’m thankful for them. We live with much freedom because of them. We often don’t give a lot of thought to those who are at the ready, on watch for our safety….so easy to take for granted, right?
I have an amazing church family-friends who have grown as close as family over the years. We laugh together, we cry together, we worship together, we retreat together, break bread together. God has been good to us to have such an amazing extended family, community we’ve become so close to.
So my antidote for Thanksgiving get together stress is gratitude. Burned or not, our turkey dinner will be a blessing-we have such abundance. Will there be lots of dishes-yes. An abundance of dirty dishes and clean up. What a blessing. What a blessing to have people that want to come and break bread, and spend time with us! What a blessing to have such an abundance of food that I have to scratch my head and spend 30 minutes condensing it into containers that will all fit into the fridge..and then wash all the containers that are then emptied.
And….what a blessing He sent His only begotten Son so that we might not perish but have everlasting life! The true Bread of life. (John 6:48)
May your Thanksgiving be incredibly blessed!