A Season Unseized

Lesson: Learning how to abide in an ever-forsaken moment

This is a very unique week for those who live in the United States. It is a week during which we get a grand opportunity that gets overlooked more and more each year. This week is called Thanksgiving.

Now before you write me off as one of the few who strives to deter people from the season that truly matters, hear me out. Most people I talk to look beyond this Thanksgiving week for one of two reasons: (1) They are enamored with the festive spirit of Christmas, or (2) they believe that we shouldn’t depend on a holiday to be thankful, but we should be thankful year-round. 

Now I would have to agree with the latter: we shouldn’t need a holiday to call us to thankfulness, but we also shouldn’t need a holiday to remember Jesus and celebrate his birth. The Christmas holiday is not in the Bible, and, as many of you know, the holiday was not introduced until the Catholic church set aside a “Christ-mass” as an alternative to combat the celebration of a pagan holiday. 

So what’s the problem? The problem is that you and I both need a holiday to remind us to be thankful because neither of us is thankful for the bulk of the year. Scroll through Instagram, talk to your friends, talk to your family, check your own texts and DMs. I’m quite sure you will find that most of your time this year has been spent addressing life’s happenings and issues, many times with complaints and frustration and not with gratitude, prayers, and grace.

Whether or not you’re committing the ultimate sin of playing Christmas music this week, I want you to answer a few questions! How have you been thankful for your family this week? How have you shown thankfulness for your friends this week? How have shown gratitude for the job you have and the people you work with even if you hate your job and can’t stand your coworkers?! Before you splurge this Friday and spend money you don’t have, how have you expressed gratefulness for the little you do have? Before we magnify the Christmas season, decorate our homes, blast Christmas music, watch our favorite Christmas movies, and claim a strong faith as we participate in some form of a Christmas church service in December, how have you actually showed God that you’re thankful for his son Jesus’s birth? What does that even mean? What does it look like?

This week, and prayerfully far beyond this week, I’ll show my thankfulness for these things not by the words I just wrote and not solely by declaring “thank you” to those I love, but by putting significant effort into making changes that express a genuine responsibility for the things and positions I’ve been given, by expressing an affection so deep and true that the people I have interactions with feel cared for and transparently loved, and by living out a renewed commitment for the calling God has placed on my life to further his mission of making disciples of all nations through active service and the free giving of my talents and abilities everywhere I go.

My prayer is that you join me in seizing this unique moment and taking advantage of this opportunity by evaluating your life and making specific determinations and changes that will mold you into a more thankful person year round.