I had so many plans for Thanksgiving, and I’m most ungrateful that they’ve all gone up in smoke. I’ve been fighting a bug most of the month, and finally went to the doctor yesterday. It is nothing alarming, and for that I should be thankful…but I don’t feel that way at all lying home in bed, and missing my kindergartner sing her Thanksgiving song in church, and wondering when I’ll cook the 13 pound turkey in the fridge, because it certainly won’t be today.
I feel sorry for myself, and even more so as I tally in my head all the holidays I’ve missed since I became pregnant with the first of our three beautiful children.
Motherhood is hazardous to your health.
Here I could tally instead all my reasons to be thankful, but my sinful Old Eve doesn’t want to “act grateful,” as my own mother would tell me on those occasions when I was about to get a gift she knew I really didn’t want, or someone had done something for me that I felt didn’t really need doing.
Act grateful…even if you don’t feel it
That reminds me of something. Oh, yes–Act loving…even if you don’t feel it.
Because love is an action, and you do it even when there isn’t a warm fuzzy within a hundred miles of your heart. If that’s true–and motherhood has provided ample opportunities to verify that nugget of wisdom–then maybe it’s also true that gratitude is an action, and you do it, well, at every opportunity…even when you don’t feel grateful.
Give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
I don’t think Paul is talking about working up a warm fuzzy of gratitude in my heart. He’s saying that no matter what’s going on in my life, I open my mouth and tell God, “Thank you.”
In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6).
He’s saying that it’s good for me to ask God to heal me soon, but that I also, in the same prayer, thank Him.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father (Colossians 3:17)
This Thanksgiving is really about practicing gratitude, whether I’m stuffing a turkey or sick in bed, whether I feel grateful or I don’t.
Just like love is something you practice, regardless of how you feel.
But even as I read these verses, a funny thing is happening. When I let him speak, God has a way of tugging at my heart and pulling my out-of-whack emotions back in line with His own.
What is God feeling this Thanksgiving?
I don’t have to guess. I know what He’s feeling, because he opens His heart and tells me.
He feels tenderness. This Thanksgiving, He carries me close to His heart. He leads me gently as I lead my little ones (Isaiah 40:11).
He feels joy. This Thanksgiving, He is overjoyed with me–so much so that He can’t help bursting into song (Zephaniah 3:17).
He feels love. He loves me not because I’m worthy of His love, or even at all lovable. I fail even to thank Him for doing everything for me that desperately needed doing, and for always giving me the best gifts, including these three beautiful and funny children.
Yet He loves me with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). That means today–when when I’m sick and upset over my “spoiled” holiday–and every day.
God’s emotions toward me don’t change. And as I give Him the chance to tell me how He feels, He changes how I feel.
I feel cared for through the discomforts and disappointments of being sick.
I feel supported in the tough work of Motherhood.
I feel loved, very loved.
And, yes, I feel grateful.
Whether you’re enjoying the big family meal, or that didn’t happen for you this year, either, know that you’re cared for, supported in all you do, and deeply loved.
To all of you, Happy Thanksgiving.
