Tis the Season for Thankfulness

November 3, 2014

It’s November and (finally) the month of Thanksgiving. In years past, my Facebook and Twitter feeds were flooded in November with everyone posting things they were thankful for everyday. Sounds nice, right?

I'm thankful for my super cool awesome iPhone 6+. I'm thankful for my really sweet car. I'm thankful for my house. I'm thankful for beer. I'm thankful for my boyfriend. I'm thankful for my dog. The list went on and on.

Sharing what we are thankful for can seem at times like a brag-fest or a meaningless list of our biggest and best possessions. It can seem pretty insincere. 

My challenge (for you and for myself) is to truly reflect this month on what we are thankful for and record it in a meaningful way. (That might mean that blasting it out on social media isn't the best idea, but I'll leave that up to you to decide.)

Inspired by Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts, I started a journal at the beginning of the year where I listed short and simple little things I was thankful for. I carried that journal in my purse everywhere I went so I could jot things down throughout the day. They weren’t earth-shattering or monumental, they weren’t always hugely significant and sometimes weren’t even things anyone else would have noticed. But I began to realize there were gifts all around me to be thankful for. It took changing my perspective from one of entitlement, selfishness, ignorance, whatever you want to call it, to one of awareness, gratitude, thankfulness.

When I went through my day with that lens, I found things everywhere to be thankful for. (And they weren't just things like my phone or my house or my dog, although those made it on the list, too.) I found that my journal filled up rapidly where I had once thought it would be impossible to reach 1,000 written-down gifts.

I would encourage you to start recording these things you find to be thankful for. Start a list in a note on your phone, or start writing a list in a journal, or maybe even tweet a few things as you notice them. Something about the act of writing it down or typing it out makes it last a little longer and seem even more special. Even keeping the list to yourself can be precious.

I think there is so much more to be thankful for than we realize sometimes, and it just takes an intentional effort to pay attention to life and the world around us for us to be amazed by them all. 

The perfect blend of spicy and sweet in my chai latte this morning. The soothing way the rain hit against my window as I fell asleep. The huge grin of the gentleman I let cross the street in front of my car in the parking lot. The still-warm loaf of banana bread on the counter waiting for me when I visited my parents’ house this weekend. Filling up a whole row at church with friends from my small group. Gluten-free communion wafers at church so I can take communion, too. Dancing to "Shake It Off" in my room late at night, just because I can. And the list goes on and on again.

The gratitude for everything, both little and big, will bubble up inside of you and spill over onto your lists. Cultivating an attitude of gratefulness takes effort, but it's so worth it. What better time to start than now, in the season that's all about giving thanks? 

This month, as we move toward the holiday of Thanksgiving, let’s move our hearts toward the practice of true thanksgiving.