When It's Challenging to Be Thankful

The holidays are meant to be joyful!  Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on blessings throughout the year, and a time to express gratitude to loved ones and to our loving God who blesses us with more than we deserve or comprehend.  So if that's true, then why does it simultaneously seem like the holidays are a time of mourning and grief for so many individuals who have suffered a loss of some sort?  Why does a heavy heart often creep into our celebrations and merriness?

Suffering is a universal concept.  We've all experienced loss in it's many relentless forms: 
The loss of a job or an opportunity. 
The loss of a loved one through death.
The loss of a loved one through betrayal, or simply the choice they made to leave.
The loss of health and therefore, quality of life.
The loss of hope that there is happiness and joy in the future.

​At times the amount of loss in life seems unfair and insufferable.

The holidays are the time when it seem like our losses should return and magically reappear so the holes in our hearts can be filled for that short period of time when we're "supposed to be joyful."  I often find myself wishing for the holes in my heart to be filled once more just for the holiday season... but life doesn't work like that.  Instead we must find a way to fill those holes with new reasons to rejoice.  This year I've found that obtaining a thankful heart might just be a tool in our toolbox to finding joy despite our grieving hearts or pained bodies.

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When I was at my darkest place in my illness, I didn't believe that gratitude could change anything, and I often went about my day filled with bitterness and resent for people who were blessed to live their lives pain-free.  Being thankful for what I have would do absolutely nothing in relieving my physical pain, so why should I try so hard when I felt I had nothing to be thankful for?  Why should I try so hard now when my past pains often burden my heart in a way that seems unbearable in the moment?  Gratitude will not take the PTSD from my nerves and mind.  Gratitude won't make my heart any less heavy.  Gratitude won't take my past or future flares from occurring.  So does it matter at all?

The answer is yes!  Practicing and expressing an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving changes you.  Allowing thankfulness to envelop your heart and senses can be the difference between having a happy holiday and having a hollow holiday.  Will it relieve all of the pain from the injustices of life?  Of course not, but it will take the edge off in a way that gives you the power to endure the pain, and endure it well.  A thankful heart often reminds us that there's always a reason to keep going, even if your circumstances are less than desirable.

With that said, there will always be times when gratitude will seem unreachable. 

I didn't feel thankful during my panic attack today.
I didn't feel thankful during my endometriosis two weeks ago.
I didn't feel thankful when my heart pinched with pain when I was reminded of the loss of someone I love on Thanksgiving Day.

So what?  Do we throw the towel in and quit?  NO!  We recognize that we're not always going to be happy, and allow ourselves to feel our pain.  We then get up and trek onward with hope in our hearts for a better future and faith that God will give us the strength to endure.  And when we feel like we can't even do that, we plead with our loving God and lean on His strength and gratitude until we can find it in ourselves.  God is waiting to help us hold our burdens, we simply have to ask to put it in His hands for a time.

I'm not going to pretend to be the expert on gratitude.  I'm not.  But I invite you to take time to write five things you're thankful for everyday.  IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.  I never knew I had so many things to smile about until I took a little time everyday to be thankful.  Even if you can only find gratitude for the chair that you are sitting in, it is more than some people have.  So take time to feel and express gratitude.  It may not take your pain, but it will transform your pain into something beautiful.

This year I'm thankful that the years past are over and that I don't have to live in that consistent darkness anymore.  I'm thankful for the health I do have.  I'm thankful for the people I've lost so that God can heal and open my heart to new people that I can love.  I'm thankful for life, breath, and hope that my Savior, Jesus Christ, instills in my heart if I allow Him too.  There's always something to be thankful for... we simply have to take time to see it.