Making a decision to be thankful in thankless times

Not sure how many years I’ve written a column for Thanksgiving trying to encourage readers to give thanks, even among difficult, sometimes mystifying, circumstances.

And often, the first person needing that encouragement is … me. Which is kind of where I find myself in 2021.

Perhaps like some of you, I was boostered up with COVID vaccine and starting to venture forth into the outside world again. Traveled over the summer and started attending church indoors again.

But, lest we grow too comfortable, the world has a way of ensuring we don’t.

Going back a year, to TDay 2020, we had just passed through an election that summoned the blood passions of partisanship. Although leadership passed from one elderly man to another, there was a feeling among many – a rejoicing – that the worst was behind us.

And then there was Jan. 6.

And racial divisions. Gender protests. Schools becoming battlegrounds. Climate change. Crime is way up in big cities.

It’s understandable why statements like “be thankful even at a time like this” can come off as empty platitudes.

COVID? This plague has a way of mocking our best efforts.

And amid the partisan clamor from both left and right, even the foundations of Thanksgiving itself are, according to some, propped upon an oppressive foundation.

We cautiously approach the holiday gathering and look across the dinner table, if we get there, at our relatives and wonder, “Vaccinated?” Or, “antivaxxer”?

All this seems to make a convincing case to just withdraw from the world or join another battle, on the front lines.

Short of those options, though, how are we then to live?

We know that life in its deep dives and heady ascents, has forever been like this, for generations upon generations, with a huge cloud of witnesses, who – amid persecution and oppression, plague, political malfeasance, violence, and grief – kept their faith and were thankful there was something better coming, something unshakable.

We too can choose to be thankful - yes, even as the pandemic continues. Even among the divisions and uncertainty.

Don’t take my word for it. Researchers have shown that giving thanks, adopting an attitude of gratitude, will replace our anxiety and fear and bring health benefits that include better coping with stress, improved sleep, higher levels of love toward others, a sense of inner peace – even lower blood pressure.

Gratitude can walk us back from the cliff of despair and hopelessness. It can be transformative in tough times, like the past 20 months.

I can accept the valleys of loss as opportunities to choose being grateful. And when I make this choice, I stop being consumed by what others have and I don’t — or by resentment – and allow my thinking to be turned inside out.

Gratitude as an attitude leaves me less consumed by possessions, more willing to help others, more spiritually aware. It takes my eyes off the irretrievable past and leaves me in the unfolding reality of the present, looking forward, with hope.

It’s no coincidence people showered with material blessings or gifted with physical beauty, superior talents, even great intelligence, often remain unsatisfied. Never rich enough. Never young again. Never appreciated enough by others.

But grateful people often have suffered loss, or come up short on youthful dreams. They understand the world as it is, and remain humbled by their own character defects and failures.

There’s a spiritual principle at work: In everything, give thanks. Gratitude in the face of inevitable difficulties says, “I’m making a choice to trust, rather than be fearful.”

This is radical thankfulness, which says, “yes,” instead of “no,” invites me to share the promise with others, unleashes inner freedom, peace and the power to overcome the obsessive thoughts I have to grab more for myself.

It’s counter-intuitive and the opposite of self-reliance.

Gratitude often requires action. That’s why keeping a gratitude journal can be helpful. The discipline of regularly writing down events and encounters in the prism of gratitude can transform our inner life.

So today, I can make that decision to give thanks for family and friends. For the development of a vaccine. For health care workers and scientists, and those who work to keep us safe and healthy. For the freedoms of expression.

And for finding peace in blue-red sunrises, the solitude of late November sunsets, and the oh-so-soft fade of the twilight horizon.

For the promise of eternity – and for forgiveness and grace.

Why wouldn’t I be thankful?