Halloween has passed and, finally, all of the lovely, sentimental Christmas movies are coming on! I can't resist a good Christmas movie! The commercials on TV are showing all the things that will be on sale for Christmas gifts and offering different gift suggestions. I love this time of year!
One thing that seems to be increasingly common in the last couple of years is the immediate jump from Halloween to Christmas. I love Christmas- it is my favorite holiday. I love celebrating the birth of Christ. I love getting together with family and exchanging gifts or playing games and making memories. It seems, however, our culture is severely underplaying one of the most important holidays and traditions of the entire year- Thanksgiving.
Something the Lord spoke to me about through His Word about a year or so ago was the idea of true thankfulness. True thankfulness is the type that is offered up in a sacrificial way from a heart of faith, believing no matter what the circumstance, God is in control and he has our best interest at heart.
I touched on the topic of thankfulness in one of my previous posts "What if". You can go there if you want to look at the scripture references. I don't want this post to be redundant, but I wanted to share something a bit more personal today.
True thankfulness is hard- there is really nothing easy about it. Since the Lord impressed on me so strongly that this is something I needed to integrate into my life, and since I have chosen to be unconditionally thankful, I have been tested.
This month, our first child would have been born. I prayed for that sweet baby. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I wrote letters to him or her. I told the baby all about his grandparents on both sides, his cousins, how excited we were to be his or her parents. I miscarried very early in the pregnancy. We never heard our baby's heart beat or saw an ultrasound. But we had hopes for our child just like any other mom or dad has hopes for the child they hold in their arms. I loved my baby and still do. Anyone who has been through a miscarriage or loss of a child understands all of the many emotions, I am sure.
Losing my baby was my test. I had to find some way to be thankful, not only that I had been pregnant but also that my child was now in heaven and not with me. It was hard and it still is hard. But I am thankful. I am thankful in a way that I cannot really understand. I am thankful that I have a child that I will meet someday. I am thankful that my child has no pain and no need for anything, and I am thankful for where I am in my life right now. Once I determined that I would, by faith, be unconditionally thankful, He gave me the strength, the grace, and the peace to actually BE thankful.
I hope that you will make Thanksgiving about being thankful this year. Don't just be thankful for all of the wonderful things that happen in life. Be thankful for all of the negatives too. I heard recently something to the effect of, "without all of the bad stuff, the good stuff wouldn't be so good".
