“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100:4-5
During Thanksgiving, we are supposed to be thankful. Almost by default, we are expected to extend extra “thank yous” to everyone we see. Instead of this coming from a heart of genuineness, it stems from a heart of being forced to meet society’s standards. The truth is, it is okay if you are struggling with thankfulness during this time of year. Don’t push yourself to be thankful if you are having a hard time right now.
God wants us to be genuinely thankful. He does not want us to lie about being thankful for what we don't have or our life situation. God wants us to be honest and give thanks when our hearts are in a place of thankfulness. Anything outside of this is not coming from our true hearts. Therefore, do not feel guilty for struggling with thankfulness because God wants you to be honest in your thanksgiving rather than forcing a fake heart posture.
Thankfulness comes from a pure heart. If thankfulness is something that is not tangible today, acknowledge your feelings and avoid passing judgment on them. You are not a bad person for struggling with thankfulness. There are many things that can cause us to struggle with thankfulness, such as going through a hard financial time, being diagnosed with an illness, or experiencing the death of a loved one. All of these things can make us feel anything but thankful. Leave space for these feelings and allow yourself to express any emotions you need.
Last Thanksgiving, I was having a hard time being thankful. My family has broken apart and rarely do we spend time together. Due to difficult family members, we were not able to have a family Thanksgiving. Since I knew this ahead of time, I was not looking forward to Thanksgiving as it wasn't going to be a special day. It was just going to be a normal day.
Sadly, most holidays in my family are like this. Due to having difficult family members, we can no longer celebrate all together as a family. If we do, there will only be disorder and chaos. Yelling and insults will be exchanged, which will only make the situation worse. Maybe your Thanksgiving and holidays look like this too, and this is causing you to not feel very thankful this holiday season.
Know that it is okay to feel this way as it is part of living in a fallen world. We want to have great holidays, including Thanksgiving, but sin inhibits it. The good news is that we are not alone in our pain as Jesus is always with us (Hebrews 13:5-6). Even if we don't feel we have anything to be thankful for, we can forever be thankful for Him. His love and grace will go before us and give us rest.
Psalm 100:4-5 attests to this as David tells us to enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and to give thanks to Him. We are to praise God’s name and give Him praise forever. With shouts of joy, we can offer up praise, thanksgiving, and joy to the Lord. God’s love endures forever and His faithfulness extends throughout all generations.
When we are feeling less than thankful, we can still be thankful for God. God has done so much for us and this includes us being alive today. Every breath we breathe and every step we take is from God. While our family life, friend life, or work life might not look ideal right now, we can give thanks to God for who He is. As Christians, we need to offer up praises of thanksgiving and tell God how much we are thankful for Him.
With time, we will find that we will start thanking God for other things in our lives, such as our house, a fall rain, or the changing of the leaves. When we start challenging ourselves to be thankful, we will start noticing all the things we are thankful for, and all of these things are from God. God is the Creator of all things as everything was created by Him and everything submits to Him (Colossians 1:15-16).
Every good thing in our life comes from Him. There are many bad things that will happen in our lives, which are not caused by God; however, He can even use these bad things for our good (Romans 8:28). Give God the praise and thanks He deserves as He is our wonderful God and our forever friend. All of us can be thankful for everything He has done for us.
Let's pray:
“Dear God, I praise You and I give You thanks. This year, I am short on thankfulness, but I know I can always give You thanks. You are worthy of all the praise and thanks in the world as You have done wonderful things in my life. Thank You, God, for You. Amen.”
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Drazen Zigic
Vivian Bricker loves Jesus, studying the Word of God, and helping others in their walk with Christ. She has earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master's degree in Christian Ministry with a deep academic emphasis in theology. Her favorite things to do are spending time with her family and friends, reading, and spending time outside. When she is not writing, she is embarking on other adventures.
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