Happy Wednesday!
Grace Anne who is behind the Totally Graced blog and the Tuesday Letters does this thing every November called Thankfulness Thursday and I've decided that for the rest of November, my blog posts are going to be about thankfulness. The weekend felt a little strange. I felt like I was living in an upside down, absurd world. There were a lot of emotions that bubbled up, the biggest one being frustration. The whole situation over the weekend was - and still is a little - frustrating.
I was going to type up a whole post about it on here, but I realized there's no point in feeding into my frustration or giving this situation more attention than it already is. Spiritual warfare is real and I think we should be praying more than ever before. I'm a little concerned about what next year - the next four years - will hold if the projection from this election holds true. But I went into November wanting it to be a good month. A month where I can sit and write Nanowrimo, not worry, hold onto peace and hope. Writing about the wreckage of the weekend on here isn't holding onto peace and hope. It just gets me pumped up and more frustrated.
So, instead, for the rest of November, I'm going to write about thankfulness. Gratitude. It's felt hard to be grateful. Oftentimes my frustration overshadows any sort of gratitude or thankfulness. I'd rather sit in my negative emotions than pull myself out of them and force myself to be thankful instead. It's especially hard for me to be thankful in hard situations, to be thankful when the world feels so broken and so full of hurt.
And yet... thankfulness is God's will for us. 1 Thessalonians hasn't been leaving me alone over the past few days. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 that says "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
All day Saturday I was trying to find something to hold onto. The right words. The right words to say to others and the right word to say to myself. That very verse showed up on my Instagram that evening and I relaxed. Those words. Those were the right words. God's will for our lives is to rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances. Even the very hard, rough, frustrating circumstances. I needed that reminder. God wills us to be thankful because thankfulness bears fruit. If you can be thankful in all circumstances then you can find reasons to smile in all circumstances. If you can be thankful then you can find joy. And isn't that what we're called to do too? To find joy in all circumstances, especially in trials and tribulations?
That one verse brings so much more to the word thankfulness. It puts so much more weight and importance on gratitude. More than I had ever considered there to be before. Being thankful had always sounded so cliche and yet this verse is anything but cliche. I'm called to be thankful in all circumstances, so that is what I will do.
Trials and tribulations will come up. Life is rough. The world is broken and divided. There is so much sun and hurt. But is that what God calls us to dwell on? The hurt and sin and pain of the world? No... we can't be lights of the world if we're drowning in the darkness. We can only be lights when we are able to rejoice when everyone else grieving, pray with faith and hope even when the rest of the world is hopeless, to be thankful while everyone else is full of bitterness.
So that's what I'm choosing to do and trying to remind myself of constantly this week. Being thankful during this month of November. I urge you to take time this week to make a list of things you're thankful for. The big stuff and the small stuff. God is a part of both.
Gratitude:
- The sun being out
- For quiet mornings in my Bible
- For Chessie
- For Merlin
- For my Nanowrimo WIP Valiant and that I hit 20k in it over the weekend
- Feeling good while driving on Saturday (and feeling good in general on Saturday)
- For book club
- For time with friends
- For my notebook and pens
- For good music
- For comfy pajamas
- For baths
- For good movies like Penelope and Beastly
- Time to read
- The clarity and peace that comes with surrender
- Wise words
- Laughter
What are you thankful for this week?
I love the idea of making lists of things your grateful for, I think I'll start doing that.
ReplyDeleteI'm incredibly grateful for Penelope and Merlin too.
Thanks! It's a really great practice to do, really helps give you some perspective. :) Yess!! Those are so good! :b
DeleteI've been thinking a lot about thankfulness as well, especially as everyone seems to be sort of skipping past Thanksgiving to focus on Christmas and get the year over with. 2020 has been a hard year, no doubt about it, but I think it's more important now than ever to stop and to be grateful, to find that joy in the big and the small things. So thank you for this reminder to not focus on the negative, but to find something to be grateful for. :)
ReplyDeleteAlexa
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It does seem like a lot of people are skipping over Thanksgiving and going straight to Christmas this year haha I totally agree. It's so important to take time to remember to be thankful this Thanksgiving and not just skip over it just because we want this year to be over with faster. Thanksgiving is so important this year. :)
DeleteAw this is such a refreshing post. ^ ^ Honestly I'm grateful for NaNo this year because I can distract myself from all of the frustration!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. I'm super grateful for Nanowrimo too, it's given me something to be excited about and, like you said, it's a good distraction from all the crazy. :b
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