Today’s Thanksgiving celebrations typically involve a whole lot of angst before families give thanks.
We spend days, sometimes weeks, worrying about cooking, hosting combative family members, the price of groceries, holiday travel and winter weather to achieve one perfect moment — everyone around the table, saying what they’re thankful for.
A holiday synonymous with gratitude shouldn’t be filled with anxiousness. God says gratitude is supposed to be our antidote for worry. Philippians 4: 6-7 tells us:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (ESV).
As a person who struggles with anxiety, I know what you’re thinking: “It’s not that easy,” or “I can’t help it,” or “If I don’t worry, nothing will get cooked!”
But gratitude isn’t the instantaneous absence of worry, or the placid peace you feel sitting around the Thanksgiving table. It’s the decision to relinquish your worries and fill your mind with the blessings you’ve been given.
Max Lucado, the author of Anxious for Nothing, says it this way.
This isn’t a passive process.
It means praying for God to move your focus away from the things that worry you, even when you want to keep ruminating on them. It means choosing to dwell on the God’s promises, even if we can’t see how He’s keeping them.
The Apostle Paul demonstrated unshakeable gratitude while chained up in a prison. He wasn’t planning his escape, or thinking about the ways God could get him out of there. He wasn’t wondering how spending time in jail could possible be for his benefit (Romans 8:28). Instead, he wrote,
Ready to trade your worry for a grateful heart? Me too. Here’s some things you can try.
Take a couple minutes each morning to pray for gratitude, even if you aren’t feeling particularly worried. Giving thanks is a practice that builds on itself, not a quick fix.
Write down three things you’re grateful for every day — and not just during the holidays. Write them on sticky notes and post them on your mirror, or keep them in a notebook where you can see your blessings build up before your eyes.
Keep a list of your prayers, and keep track of how God answers them.
Keep a list of God’s promises on your phone and read them aloud when your mind starts spinning.
Here’s to making this Thanksgiving more about giving thanks than feeling angst.
The post Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving: Why You Should Give a Hoot About Gratitude appeared first on Daily Citizen.
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