{giving} thanks - in everything

in my 52 years of thanksgivings, i'm pretty sure this holiday has never been as important to celebrate as it is this year. 

seven years ago i did a little blog series called "30 days of {thanks}giving" for the entire month of november. each day i shared a photo and a few words of gratitude. i wish i had started that again this november in this 2020 year. but for a million reasons i missed that boat altogether. but in this past week or so,  i've found myself feeling a bit unanchored … untethered. like i knew there was something i was supposed to be doing, but just wasn't. i felt like i had walked into a room, but had forgotten the item for which i came — by the way, thanks to middle age,  that's happening a lot these days. it occurred to me this week that i'm smack dab in middle of november, but i've almost completely forgotten to give thanks. it's just not been on my mind as it usually has been in recent years. the truth is, 2020 has me a little distracted, dismayed and discouraged. 

but because i am a big believer in the philosophy of "it's-never-too-late-to-start," i am going to go ahead and kick off this idea for the next 10 days leading up to this year's thanksgiving. join me! write your own list this week. keep writing your gratitude down. keep saying it out loud. i learned long ago there is something specific about saying it out loud, writing it on paper or sharing it with friends. it just sticks better. 

i thought i really needed to improve my gratitude game in 2013 when i first did this series, but i had no idea how much more i would need it come 2020. could any of us ever have imagined a year quite like this? 

but here we are. and here we must be. and here we must choose to make of it what we can. 

if you're like me, the thought of thanksgiving this year and the christmas holiday which follows, has you feeling a little bit unsettled. this wonderful november day which has always been about gathering together,  holding close our loved ones, and being elbow to elbow and tight at the table. well, it pretty much feels shot to heck this year.  at least at first thought it sure does.

and it's like the rug has been pulled right out from underneath all of us. all across america. everywhere in the world. we are left grasping and groping in the dark of this country whether it be because of political stress or pandemic uncertainty. we are off kilter like never before. doesn't matter how we feel about the election results, we are all a bit weary just from watching the circus itself. and where normally we welcome the cooler winter days and the time tucked tight in our homes, this year, we fear what's ahead in these months of shorter days and more social distance. 

we can't plan well. we can't anticipate greatly. we can't execute easily. 

so what do we do? 

well, as much as i'd like to, i can't have you all over for dinner next week—truth is, we aren't having anyone over for dinner next week— but i can invite you all to the table of daily thanksgiving in these next ten days. 

from wherever you are — come and gather at the table of gratitude. 

even this year. even in this inconceivable 2020, there are blessings to be found, treasure to be unearthed and gifts to be received. i love how one local church here in atlanta has this phrase on their website: "socially distant, but spiritually close." 

yes, even in a pandemic and even in an unstable political climate, there are blessings to be brought forth if we are willing to go looking. and all of it stems from this word —THANKSGIVING. giving and thanking. thanking and giving. what a beautiful combination which cannot help but lead to a more hopeful heart.

"How my eyes see, perspective, is my key to enter into His gates. I can only do so with thanksgiving. If my inner eye has God seeping up through all things, then can't I give thanks for anything? And if I can give thanks for the good things, the hard things, the absolute everything, I can enter the gates to glory. Living in His presence is fullness of joy- and seeing shows the way in.”  ~ Ann Voskamp

what is it to give thanks to God for the good, sweet, wonderful gifts of everyday living? for the little things. for the big things. for the obvious things. but, even more, what is it to give thanks for the hurting things and for the hard things. for the lonely things and for the things we've lost.  GIVE THANKS for all of it. everything.

it is a privilege and a blessing. it is life. 

because it's giving thanks for all things which turns the holy key and let's us, as ann voskamp said above, "enter the gates of glory."

we must see it.
we must seek it.
uncover the treasure locked up in everything.
not just the obvious beauty ...
                              ----- but {sometimes} the hidden blessing of the extremely hard.

do you believe we can give God thanks for all of it?

"in everything give thanks; 
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~ 1 thessalonians 5:18

when i wrote this 7 years ago we were coming out of a hard place — a cancer diagnosis and treatment and a cross country move for our family. God took us through some crazy hard things to give us a glimpse of His glory. maybe that's what's happening for you today in 2020. what has He taken you and your family through? what hard place are you living in right now? 

when life feels ugly and we feel broken and beat up we don't always first think of THANKSGIVING. of course we don't. but everything in me wants to enter those gates of glory ... and if it takes a spirit of gratitude, than Lord, make me MORE grateful. make me see. give me a glimpse of your glory in a time such as this. even this. especially this. 

i won't tell you that thanking God for the hard is easy, because usually it isn't -- but it's good. always good.

i can tell you it's good because i've walked a little way down that particular path. i know it in the big things like my journey with cancer, but i know it also in the small things as well. i know it when the sink is piled high with dirty dishes and the toddler has his 5th ear infection and there's no milk in the fridge and the laundry stinks and the husband is travels and the bills pile up and the woman is worn down. i know giving thanks is good even in those every day, draining, ordinary, overwhelming kinds of things. i know it even when all i want to do is go to bed early and escape the ever continuing of the same old same old. 

giving thanks doesn't always change our circumstances,  but it always changes us.
yes, read it again:

giving thanks doesn't always change our circumstances,  but it always changes us.

i remember a moment, years ago — i was helping my little guy with some homework. it was hard for him. he wasn't getting it. defeated, we sat together at the kitchen table with our tears, frustrated words and bad attitudes. both of us. why couldn't he get this math? why did it have to be so hard? what was wrong? why him? why me? ever been there? i got up from the table to take a break and to go find myself a little piece of patience. i made myself a cup of tea and wandered off into the office where i had a note card sitting out on the desk. there it was in bold print staring at me: "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." yep. there it was. in my own handwriting. black and white and convicting. and the tears began to fall. 

really, Lord?

give thanks in this? in third grade math? really?

i looked again at the words. IN EVERYTHING ...

i tried to find a loop hole. a way out. IN EVERYTHING ...

i tried ignore the card and focus elsewhere. IN EVERYTHING ...

i even tried to hide the card in a book close-by.  IN EVERYTHING ...

so with my head bowed low on that desk i gave thanks for this difficult math and for this struggling boy and for this frustrating hour at the kitchen table. i gave thanks. and as the words began to come -begrudgingly and falteringly at first -- finally, the thanksgiving began to pour forth. and the more i gave thanks the easier it became to see something good in this ordinary--but hard--mothering moment.

it's not magic. it's not a mystery. it's meeting Jesus.

Jesus gets the glory when we give the thanks ... but we get the gift when we see His glory revealed  --- even in the hard, small, bitter bites of life.

so, my challenge in these next ten days ahead --

let's not race around as we head for the table. let's take our time. let's treat it like treasure. let's hunt together for the gifts that God has so richly given even in 2020. let's look at our minutes and our hours and our tasks and our trials with new eyes. eyes that are willing and wanting to see ... to really see every good thing God has provided … even in this time of pandemic and political unrest.

let's be mindful. prayerful. grateful. thankful. in all things. every thing. even the things which cause us to put our heads down on the desk and cry. give Him thanks. 

"praise the Lord! 

GIVE THANKS 
TO THE LORD, 
for He is good! 

His faithful love endures forever." ~ psalm 106:1 

"all that we behold is full of blessings."  ~william wordsworth