Oh, November. That special month that somehow magically reminds everyone to be thankful. You get hashtags like #30daysofThanks and obviously the holiday of Thanksgiving is the ultimate reminder to call to mind all of our blessings. It’s not that we’re not thankful for the rest of the year, it’s just that the winter season is all about new life, spending time with loved ones, sharing meals and starting fresh. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are catalysts for a lot of the change we experience every year, and that’s awesome. It’s also awesome to remember every single day that we have way more blessings than we deserve.
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Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts is changing my life right now. She felt as though she were going through life always wanting more time. Sometimes it seems like we all want more time to do the things we love, and it feels like we’ll never get it. But the problem isn’t finding time for all the best parts of life, it’s realizing that every part of life is the best part. Everything is a gift. Everything is something to be thankful for. At first, this idea seems super cheesy to me. I imagine my childhood prayers of “God, thank you for my brother. Thank you for my mommy and daddy. Thank you for my friends.” And that’s kind of how it goes. Except, the more you acknowledge the gifts around you, the deeper it gets. Soon, we start to realize how deep the Father’s love for us really goes. He is in every detail. Every moment is a gift from Him.
Personally, I find it much easier to be negative. My friend Rebecca recently told me that she’s always able to comfort herself by remembering that no matter what, it’s good to be alive. To be perfectly honest, I don’t always feel that way. I don’t always feel like at the end of the day, it is a good thing to be alive. I think it’s difficult and brutal and complicated. So because my personality generally leans toward the negative side of things, I have to really genuinely try to find things to be thankful for. I have to stop myself from complaining, and I have to really look for the good around me. The amazing thing is that once I actually open my eyes and my heart to all of the good in life, it’s very clear that I’m surrounded by beautiful things. There is an infinite amount of things to be thankful for every single day.
I don’t have much else to say on the topic other than that.
Be thankful. All the time.
The world is imperfect. Especially right now in a time where people are confused and angry and afraid. Super storms and elections and debates and sickness. All of that sucks, it really does. But when you are able to open your eyes and see the little things, you start to change: the sunlight streaming into your home, the baby that smiles at you, the husband that will be with you forever, even when things get hard. All of these things are good, and they are all worth living for. So look around and be thankful.
One Thousand Gifts is one of my all time favorites. It’s truly life changing. It’s fascinating to me that even when our circumstances stay the same, we can choose to have joy by choosing to be thankful.