Have a Happy COVID Thanksgiving!
"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
Thanksgiving is coming in a week. What plans have you made to gather. Has the recent increase in number of active COVID cases changed your plans or limited the number of guests that will gather. In a normal year it is easy to get caught up in all the activities of Thanksgiving like meal prep, invitations, house cleaning, football and eating, to forget to be thankful. This year may prove even more difficult to be thankful. It has been a year of loss. Our high School Seniors lost their graduation. Students lost their classroom experience. Families have lost loved ones and then lost the opportunity to celebrate their lives and their eternity. There have been lost freedoms, from wearing a mask to travel being limited. We have lost the presence of others. It has been a season of loss. It is not a season that creates a spirit of thankfulness. Yet Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica to give thanks in all circumstances. That translates to being thankful in this season of COVID.
When you think about it this COVID season really teaches us to be thankful. When I think about those things I lost. I begin to wonder how many of them had I taken for granted. Things as simple as fresh air. Now every time I take my mask off, I breathe that air in deeply and give thanks. How about you? Do you find yourselves recognizing the things in your life you had taken for granted and now can give thanks for them?
COVID has taught me to be thankful for the presence of God. While COVID brings all these negative losses to our lives. I am reminded that God is ever present in my life. I am reminded that while tomorrow may change but God never changes. I am reminded that with God I have nothing to fear. There are many more reasons for me be thankful to God amid this current crisis.
How about you? What do you have to be thankful for in this wonderfully weird year?
