The Truth about Thanksgiving

OK. Be honest with me. As you anticipate Thanksgiving this week, are you frantically praying it will not be like last Thanksgiving… or some other nightmare Thanksgiving experience you remember from the past? Are the relatives all planning to gather and you just hope against hope that sister Sue and brother Kevin won’t get in that same fight again this year?  Do you hope “THAT” subject, whatever it is, doesn’t come up? Do you hope your mother-in-law doesn’t spend the entire day telling you how the meal could have been better? Will you be glad when the stress of the day is over?

Sadly, you are not alone.  In the article written by Kristen Aiken, “Psychologists Explain How to Deal with the Nightmare that is Thanksgiving Dinner,” family psychologist Gail Gross offers some suggestions about facing truth. “It is important to know yourself and therefore, the patterns that inform your relationship with your family,” she says. “Family undercurrents can only add pressure to your Thanksgiving dinner if you allow them. If you are conscious of those family patterns, you can practice and rehearse how to respond ahead of time. This will prevent you from getting hooked back into childhood behavior.

“When you feel yourself approaching a boiling point, it’s always best to take a moment and breathe. Changing your attitude is much easier said than done ― but changing your behavior is the next best option.”

Great suggestion. At the same time, the truth about Thanksgiving is that it is a time set aside to be thankful to God for all He has provided in our lives and the abundance of His love toward us. And the truth is that if you maintain that focus above all else, no matter where you are, who you are with, or what you’re experiencing, Thanksgiving can be wonderful. Why?  Because you can spend the day thanking the Lord God for everything great and small in your life.

It’s like the story of the little boy, who when told to sit down, refused until his mother described a consequence he could not endure… the removal of his video game. When she complimented him on sitting he replied, “I’m sitting on the outside… but I’m standing on the inside!”

Regardless of what is happening on the outside with all those who surround us, we can be standing in praise and gratitude to God on the inside. No one can rob us of that joy!

Happy Thanksgiving, dear friends! I am standing on the inside with you!