Gratitude in All Seasons

Thanksgiving is always a time for reflection.

You may be looking back on the past year with contentment. Perhaps this was the year when a lifelong dream came true or new hope was birthed within you.

Or maybe this year has been painful and you don’t know how you made it this far. Fresh scars were stitched permanently on your heart. All you can do is anxiously anticipate the future.

This time of year forces us to generate feelings of “gratitude”, whether we want to or not. It seems wrong to feel discouraged or overwhelmed when we’re supposed to be cheery and excited.

Then, of course, it can seem like we’re betraying God when our immediate emotion isn’t happiness or thankfulness when looking back on memories. Does this mean we don’t trust God?

Something I’ve been realizing this year is that God appreciates genuineness above praise that doesn’t come from the heart. He wants us to be open with Him about what we’re going through, which deepens our relationship with Him.

But how do we avoid enabling ourselves to live in a constant funk while also not forcing ourselves to appear surface-level happy?

Perhaps by redefining what it means to be grateful.

Another word for gratitude is appreciation. When we look back on the variety of moments in our lives that have shaped us, we can appreciate why God allowed us to go through them without being glad that they happened. We don’t have to smile when we remember the loss of a loved one or a heartbreaking situation. We don’t have to shrug off the effort it took to grow in patience or to learn how to take care of ourselves.

Rather, we can have joy knowing that we can trust God with everything, including our disappointments and struggles and injustices. Joy doesn’t equal happiness; it makes room for deeper healing to be explored.

Today, when perhaps there is nothing else to be thankful for or you have everything in the world to be excited about, go to God and be renewed in the hope only faith can bring.

Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly;
    though lofty, he sees them from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    you preserve my life.

Psalm 138:6-7