The past week has been emotional. I’m guessing many of you are right there with me in thinking I’m not sure how much more I can take. There is so much sadness right now. Most of what I hear and see focus on one side of the sadness. Can we all just agree that there is sadness and hardship everywhere we look right now? It is sad that there are individuals dying every day from a virus that there is still limited information about. It is sad that there are students who no longer get to go to school in person and see their biggest supporters every day. It’s sad that many of those same students are struggling to find food, dealing with abuse or neglect, and struggling with mental health issues. It is sad that many people, especially elderly individuals, will be spending holidays isolated from others. I would go as far as to say these situations aren’t just sad. They are heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and lamentable. THERE IS SO MUCH SADNESS.
I am not going to begin to pretend that I know what you are going through. Some of you have experienced things worse than I could ever imagine this year. Some of them have been related to the global pandemic we are in the midst of, and others have been completely unrelated. I am also not going to act as if everything’s gone well for me this year. I think we have all faced our own difficulties and I do not want to dismiss that fact. Whatever you are feeling right now is okay. However, there is a cultural mindset that nothing positive has come out of this year.
I saw a shirt the other day that had “Thanksgiving” written on it. It also had the “giving” part crossed out and “for nothing 2020” had been written instead, reading “Thanks for nothing 2020.” Maybe you’ve said or posted something similar. It’s easy to whine and complain about all the things that have gone wrong this year. I could list plenty of my own reasons why 2020 has been a hard year. There’s times when I really just want to call up a friend and complain. Sometimes, in my times of weakness, I do. Sometimes we really do need to talk something through with someone else and we need safe people to vent to.
The problem is, we are no longer venting in safe spaces. We are complaining everywhere we go and spreading negativity to an already anxious, depressed, and sad world. Here’s the problem with that shirt I saw. It tells the lie that because many things went wrong, nothing went well. That’s just not true. Again, I don’t want to diminish the hardships of the year. Your feelings are valid, but we get to choose what we dwell on. I was actually going to post this last week. I had pretty much everything written and ready to go when circumstances changed and I had to take care of some unexpected events.
It’s funny that in the midst of writing about choosing to be thankful in all circumstances, I had a pretty rough few days. I know it’s not easy to choose to dwell on positive things when it seems like everything around us is falling apart. Thanksgiving is tomorrow (as I’m writing this) and even if circumstances and traditions change, it should still remind us to be thankful. It’s not easy to focus on the positives. We have to intentionally look for and choose the things we are thankful for, even in this crazy year of 2020. If we choose to dwell on and think about the positive things and be thankful for those, it can give us hope.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us to, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” It doesn’t say give thanks in all years that aren’t 2020. It doesn’t say give thanks, but you’re excused if bad things are happening to you. It says give thanks IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. 1 Thessalonians was written by Paul, who faced plenty of challenges of his own. There are four books in the Bible that Paul wrote while he was under house arrest: Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. In each of these books, WHILE UNDER HOUSE ARREST, Paul speaks of giving thanks. We should follow his example and give thanks for the blessings we have in life, especially the people in our lives.
I thank my God every time I remember you.
Philippians 1:3
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Ephesians 1:16
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.
Colossians 1:3
I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers
Philemon 1:4
We can have hope that circumstances will get better soon, but we ultimately don’t have control over them. The sooner we accept that we have no control over what happens to us, we can focus on what we can control. We do have control over our attitude and actions. My challenge to you is to think about the things that you can be thankful for in this season, even in the midst of other challenges, emotions, and struggles. After Thanksgiving passes, choose to continue to be thankful daily. Try to list three things each day that you are thankful for from that day specifically, rather than listing the same three things every day. I often find that the things I thank God for most often relate to other people and how they bring joy to my day. It reminds me that people I love are more important than any traditions or circumstances could ever be.
To wrap up, I’ll share some things I am thankful for even in the midst of the craziness of this year. Some of these things I may not have even done or experienced if we weren’t in the middle of a global pandemic. Here are some of my silver linings from the pandemic. I ran a virtual 5K that only went virtual because of social distancing recommendations. I would not have been able to run it in person because it was in another state, but was able to participate with family virtually. I got to spend more time with my family due to my sister coming home from college and most of my family working from home. I have had time to slow down and read and learn and grow. I hope that you can come up with your own positive things to be thankful for and use them to encourage others around you to do the same. Share the big ones, but share the small ones too. Share about the kind thing someone at work did for you. Tell your friends you are thankful for them, even if you are seeing them less in person and more virtually. Be a light to those around you by choosing to be thankful and dwelling on the positives instead of the negatives.
