Gratitude is something we do in the face of struggles and not something that magically sweeps over us once we've overcome them.

2020: the hardest year of my life...

How many of us are saying that this Thanksgiving?

I am.

Maybe we should skip Thanksgiving this year? Not in a mask mandate sort of way, but rather because of a lack of things to be grateful for.

Maybe on this Thanksgiving day, 2020, there aren't enough gratitude nuggets to fill a breakfast bowl, let alone an entire day of feasting and celebrating and, dare I say it - offering thanks.

Or is it possible that's an upside down way of looking at Thanksgiving. Is it possible that giving thanks is the pathway to blessings and not the celebration we offer after blessings have been experienced?

You know, anytime I get a chance to talk with any depth about my life, I almost always end up talking about struggles. That's not because I'm a fan of struggles; I just think they're the most interesting part of my story.

If it's true that struggles are the most interesting part of my story, overcoming them is what adds meaning to it. And because I often hear "tell me more" when I talk about my struggles, I find myself believing other people are looking for similar meaning in their own lives. Other people are looking to overcome struggles as well.

If we're looking for a word to describe 2020, maybe struggles works best for a lot of us. We've experienced lost loved ones, jobs, relationships, dignity...plug your own 2020 "I lost blank" in there.

But maybe because so many of us are struggling, this is the Thanksgiving we should be more thankful than ever.

My friend Sarah recently said that "gratitude helps to strengthen our resolve; it helps us face adversity."

How is that?

Maybe the meaning we find in overcoming struggles comes to life right now - on this 2020 Thanksgiving. Maybe in telling the stories of our struggles, in sharing them with others, maybe we remind ourselves of all that we've overcome before. We remind ourselves those struggles have filled us with resolve - that we are now built
more than we can imagine to face adversity.

Maybe we remind ourselves gratitude is something we do in the face of struggles and not something that magically sweeps over us once we've overcome them.

Because when we can look back and see the spaces where we've overcome struggles before, we can indeed be grateful for the courage that comes with knowing we will surely do it again.

When we look back and see the victory that came from the ashes of past, we can indeed be grateful for knowing - not believing - that there is beauty in the future.

And if it is indeed true that we all tend to tell the stories of our struggles when we tell the stories of our lives, if we're most proud and most grateful of all that we've overcome, AND - and if 2020 is indeed the hardest year of your life, well maybe this is the Thanksgiving to be more thankful than ever.

Because you know you have the resolve, you know you can face adversity, and in the middle of the hardest year of your life, that is something to be very thankful for.

God bless all of you. May God fill your hearts with gratitude along the pathway of struggle, on your way to many blessings that will overwhelm your hearts with Thanksgiving. In 2020, and in the many years to come.