Thanksgiving Week: Press Pause

It’s Thanksgiving week. It’s kind of hard to tell with the Christmas rush already starting. The rush to get a tree, get the Christmas lights up and decorations out, and the constant ads for black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping.

Instead of Thanksgiving being celebrated on its own, it’s overshadowed by being the official beginning of Christmas shopping and the Christmas holidays or at least that’s how it seems to me.

I remember when celebrating Thanksgiving was just that; Thanksgiving.

Everywhere we go Christmas decorations have been hitting us in the face since Halloween. A couple of weeks ago I saw live Christmas trees piled up outside a grocery store. Seems crazy to me because if you buy a live tree now, it’ll be dead by Christmas Eve.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like Thanksgiving is kind of watered down, as it falls between Halloween and Christmas. I see more advertising for black Friday, Cyber Monday and people planning to camp outside the department store doors so they can be part of a shopping stampede.

As a single mom, all of this can add to the stress of trying to budget extra money just to buy a few Christmassy things for your house, much less a Christmas tree and presents.

Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas and celebrating Jesus' birth and life! But all the materialism and Christmas rush that's forced on us during this time is another blog post for another day. 

With that in mind, I want to focus on Thanksgiving, which can also be stressful depending on your family circumstances.

Maybe it’s your ex’s turn with the kids this Thanksgiving. Or maybe this whole time of year stirs up melancholy and bittersweet emotions.

When this time of year brings on more anxiety than thankfulness, it’s time to press our pause button temporarily. While we’re in pause mode, let’s change our focus and thoughts before pressing start again.

As a single mom, the holidays always brought conflicting emotions in me. My peace and comfort would come, though, when I’d intentionally choose to focus on things that I was thankful for. When I paused to take my focus off my heartaches, disappointments and what I didn’t have, and set my thoughts on all God had given, my entire perspective would change.

Pausing and taking the time to sit down to write out the small things we’re thankful for will help to navigate throughout the holidays with a thankful and peace-filled heart.

Here are five things we all can do right now to melt away the anxiety and stress of the holidays.

1. Schedule a time and quiet place where you can press your pause button, even if it’s just for 10 minutes.
2. Grab a notebook and pen to take with you to your quiet place.
3. Write down one thing you’re thankful for. I start with the simplest thing I might take for granted such as my health, a roof over my head, or the last meal I just ate.
4. After writing down one thing, think of something else you’re thankful for, but it can’t be anything material. An example would be, God’s grace and Jesus in your life, a blue sky to look at, the smell of fall leaves, wood burning, coffee brewing or the ability to get out of bed every day. Maybe it’s friends, family or your pet.
5. While you’re doing this, make your prayer requests known to God, your Heavenly Father, who wants to hear from you.

Once you start, the list will keep growing. Before you know it, your heart is filled more with thanksgiving than it was of anxiety and stress. 

Don’t press your start button again until you’ve done the five things. We’re promised that a thankful heart, while making our requests known to God, will always produce peace as He guards our hearts and minds.

It’s Thanksgiving week. Let’s celebrate with thankful hearts and make this Thursday all about being a day full of gratitude and peace with God’s protection over our hearts and minds.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV).