The Practice of Thankfulness

There’s something about home. There’s something about family. There’s something about reclining at a table, unbuttoning your jeans (or wearing a dress for that matter), slouching in your chair, and belly laughing with loved ones, all the while doubling over in pain, because your stomach and your heart are so full.

Thanksgiving is about family, and so many of us are experiencing a Thanksgiving unlike any other we’ve experienced before. Without our family. Without our loved ones. Without our grafted in family friends. Some of us are alone, some of us are with our spouses, some of us are with our kids. Most of us are without our grandparents and our elders.

Thanksgiving looks a lot different this year. Even though Thanksgiving is about family, it’s also about being thankful. It’s what this holiday is supposed to be about anyway, and I think this year could actually be the one to cause us to really cherish it for what it is.

It’s hard to look at this year and immediately conjure up thoughts, words, and feelings of thankfulness, but when I look into the caverns of my weary soul, I find thankfulness there.

I’m thankful for my relationships

I’m thankful that my grandma is still alive. I’m thankful that my family is healthy. I’m thankful that I’ve gotten to spend the first year of mine and my husband’s marriage spending more time together than we probably would have if the pandemic hadn’t happened. I’m thankful for the extra time I’ve had to spend with my parents, cozied up by the fire, watching movies together.

I’m thankful for the phone calls and video chats I’ve had with my friends and my brother. I’ve talked more with them this year than I have in a long time. I’m thankful for reconnecting with friends I hadn’t talked to in years. I’m thankful for friendships in general.

Not having easy access to the people I love has made my value and need for them even more apparent, and that has been so good for me and our relationships. They do say that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I’m thankful for a reevaluation of values

This absolutely hectic year has really caused me look deep inside myself at what I really believe and feel about pretty much everything. Justice, relationships, politics, healthcare, food, basic needs, love for others vs. self-care, family, freedom, human rights, human decency, race, religion, etc.

SO many things have been brought into question. We all need to look at these things and reevaluate every once in a while, and this year has forced that to happen with many of us. This is where we become more solid in who we are and what we believe. That is so needed, and though it’s been hard to look at sometimes, I’m really thankful for it.

I’m thankful for figuring out what I want

This year has also caused me to look at what I need and want as an individual. When the lack was so evident, when everything comfortable and “normal” was stripped away, the dissatisfaction of it pushed me into a headspace of internal dialogue and asking myself, “Well, what DO I want?”. That question has led me into some shockingly solid and exciting places where I now know what I want and feel the excitement and gumption to make it happen.

I’m thankful for still being able to go on *safe* adventures

My husband and I have discovered some new things that we love to do together this year. We’ve both discovered that we love hiking together. I’ve also found that disc golf is a super fun hobby. My husband has always loved it, but I had never tried it until a couple of months ago and it is so fun. I’ve intentionally walked more this year than probably ever, and we’ve explored some new places outdoors that we had never been before.

We also got to visit Flagstaff, Arizona where we’ll be moving in January! There are SO many fun things to do there and it is absolutely gorgeous! I’m thankful for the chance to get outside and see beautiful places in nature, and I’m also thankful for the opportunity of new beginnings.

There are so many things to be thankful for when we take the time to look.

This year has been ROUGH, but it has not been without beauty. There has been so much turmoil, so much pain, so much confusion, and so much division, but there is always beauty to be found in the dirt. There is always a silver lining.

Let this part of 2020 take you to that place of giving thanks. The practice of thankfulness is going to be what perpetuates our joy and keeps us from hopelessness. Endeavor to find even the most seemingly trivial or practical things that you’re thankful for, and let it carry you and yours into the new year.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!