November 28, 2024

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is God who made us, and we belong to God; we are God’s people, the sheep of the pasture. Enter the gates with thanksgiving and the courts with praise; give thanks to God and praise God’s name. For the Lord is good and that love endures forever; God’s faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100

When I was a young adult, I experienced a time in my life when I was frustrated by my circumstances. I felt trapped in an existence of my own making, yet I felt incapable of making the effective change necessary to create the life I wanted. Some people experience depression in times when they feel boxed in and powerless, but my emotions swung towards pessimism and deep seated unhappiness. One night, I decided I needed to shift my mindset. All these years later, I couldn’t pinpoint what called me to make that shift, but I did. I bought a book, “Attitudes for Gratitude” and I read it and reread it and let it rewrite the way I engaged with the world. My "revelation" from that time was that gratitude is a choice. Gratitude can shift the way we respond when the world turns upside down; gratitude is the silver lining in the cloud.

Thanksgiving isn’t the warm fuzzy holiday of love and good feelings for everyone. It might be different because of a location change or the loss of someone beloved in your life. It might be that you will be celebrating your Thanksgiving in an extended care facility away from the people you love the most. It might be that your feelings of fear and anxiety hold you hostage- so much so that you can’t celebrate the way others so easily do.

A very practical piece of changing my mindset all those years ago was to exercise gratitude daily. Gratitude doesn’t keep you from sadness, but it helps you to discover the wideness of God’s mercy and the brilliance of unmined joy. Gratitude is the reminder that, like the Psalmist says, we are God’s people. God’s love endures forever- through hardships, tasty meals, uncomfortable dinner conversations, and the tender delight of sharing the table with people that you love. May this day, and every other day, be one where our attitude is set to Gratitude.