January
can be depressing. We may have financial or emotional hangovers because the
holiday excitement is over. Our Christmas bills come in. Our homes feel empty after
family and friends leave. Or we feel hollow if a loved one has recently passed
away. We can be frustrated with the cold temperatures, bundling up to even step outside. We
yearn for longer, warmer days to cheer us.
How
can we be thankful followers of Christ in winter? How can our thankful hearts
and attitudes change our perspective and encourage others?
My Winter Journal of Thankfulness
It was a winter of the Arctic
vortex on steroids.
Several years ago, snow fell in
October—and stayed. That winter was long and cold, and the Southern Alberta
Chinooks seldom came. Snow continued to pile up until April’s thaw melted it.
To counter my twinges of SAD
(Seasonal Affective Disorder) that winter, I journaled about God’s many
footprints. Snow sparkling in the sunlight like so many diamonds. Tiny deer tracks
in fresh snow up our cul-de-sac. The golden cloud in early morning sunlight, until
the wind of the cold front and snow blew in and blotted out the sun.
 |
| What that winter felt like!! |
My journal recorded not only the
joyous moments. Several times I wrote about “difficult thanks”; on frigid
blustery days I recognized God’s sovereignty over His creation and the winter
season. On those days I was particularly thankful for a warm house, adequate
winter clothes, a car that worked in the cold, and city workers who plowed out
our streets.
Unfortunately I didn’t continue
recording moments of thankfulness.
…until this last summer.
At a ladies’ retreat, our guest
speaker, Heidi McLaughlin, shared entries from her “Journal of Thanks”. She was
thankful for items even as small as her bed’s soft sheets. Heidi inspired me to
again journal several things each day for which I was thankful.
I didn’t realize how this
practice changed my writing until I reread my 2016 journal.
It was a real eye-opener!
Normally I keep this journal
for daily time with God and how He is speaking to me about my concerns. But
when I began adding daily thanks items (including “difficult thanks”), the tone
of my writing changed to one of gratitude for friends, family, unique
experiences, His Word, and for God Himself.
Thanks and praise had lifted my
writing to a higher plane. I began to include more thankfulness and praise in
my regular entries.
As I meditated on this month’s theme,
I realized the great potential for being thankful. If it were possible, we
could thank God for something in each moment of the day.
We could be like Brother
Lawrence, whose duty was to wash pots and pans in a Carmelite Monastery. Daily
he practiced the presence of God and let love transform everything he did.
What does thankfulness do?
Thankfulness, along with prayer
and petition, is the antidote to our worry and anxiety (Philippians 4:6).
Thankfulness takes our focus
off ourselves and opens us to worship our Creator, Saviour and Lord.
Thankfulness gives our writing
a fuller message so that our readers can meet God in new ways.
A Chinese pastor developed a
daily habit of thankfulness while in prison. He encouraged us:
"Every morning when you
wake up, don't get up; just stay in bed and for ten minutes thank God for
anything that comes into your mind. It might be the wallpaper, it might be for
friends, it might just be for life. Anything. Once you get going you discover
that the world is full of grace, God's grace. With that attitude you are ready
to live the day for God, because you are overwhelmed at how generous God is to
you."
Now
it’s your turn. Take your notebook, a cappuccino or hot chocolate and curl up
in your favourite chair or sofa. Write about what you’re thankful for this
winter, in many areas of your life and writing. What does your thankfulness tell
you? How will thankfulness open you to
new ways God is speaking to you about your faith and writing this year?
