A Different Kind of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving looks different this year than it has before. For one thing, I never got around to clearing away Halloween and putting up Thanksgiving, but that's OK. Advent starts on Sunday. We'll start hanging the green this weekend. Maybe. Probably. If I get around to it.
Seriously though. I was looking through old photos (this is one of them) of Thanksgivings past, and I had to stop and grieve for a minute, because when I think of all the things that we're NOT getting to do, I'm overwhelmed by how much has been lost this year.
But right alongside that overwhelming wave of sorrow is a flood of gratitude. God has been so very good and gracious this year, and I have more reasons to be thankful than I can count. When I think of all the good things that have come to pass, I'm overwhelmed by how much kindness the Lord has shown us.
Either way, I'm overwhelmed.
Today, I'm choosing to name the good and give thanks for the many blessings of 2020. Though it has been hard, it hasn't been all bad. Not by a long shot. When I look back on these days, I want to remember the light that shone in the darkness and the unshakable hope that held me steady.
So I’ll give thanks, because giving thanks does something to me. It shifts my perspective and directs my focus away from what I wish things were like to the goodness that ready is. It reminds me not just that God is good, but that God is good to me.
And so shall he ever be.
Amen to that.
🙌🏻 Leslie Ann
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Repeat the Sounding Joy
These days are wildly busy, and it's easy to be overwhelmed by all the holiday parties and shopping lists and special programs and Christmas parades and seasonal decorating and gift giving that fills up our days. Decide now (before things get crazy) to make this season a joyous one. Embrace the wonder. Marvel in the mystery. Repeat the sounding joy.
Abound in Thanksgiving
Leslie Ann Jones
Leslie Ann is the founder of Muscadine Press. She lives in small-town Mississippi with her husband and daughters. In addition to running Muscadine Press, she writes and teaches Bible studies at her home church and enjoys the privilege of speaking and teaching at women's events from time to time.