If You’re Unraveling a Bit Before Thanksgiving

During the last few days, there have been times when I felt like I was one thread yank away from completely unraveling.

Not because of a particular event or situation or heartache. Just because … life.

Life that includes (but is not limited to) lost contact lenses, malfunctioning garage-door openers, skyrocketing health insurance premiums, unexpected hormonal flareups, canceled dental discount cards, bad haircuts, broken hair straighteners and my apparent inability to handle all these inconveniences graciously while wearing my glasses.

Here’s the honest truth. When I get to feeling (and acting) out of sorts, I tend to talk to myself quite a bit. I try to remind myself what is good and right in my life. I make a special effort to notice blessings that often seem to come out of nowhere (like buy-3-get-1-free tire specials, gifts of creativity from blogger friends and the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship).

I pay attention to the fall colors outside my kitchen window and the delightful ways my girls are growing right before my eyes. I put my recent string of annoyances into perspective by thinking of others with much more pressing problems.

I also tell myself that sometimes, what really I need is a good night’s sleep. So I send my exhausted self to bed after a less-than-stellar Friday, firmly believing that joy can and very often does come in the morning.

I wake up on Saturday with a Scripture passage on my mind, one I’ve loved forever that takes on fresh meaning in my current season of quasi-struggle. It too is a conversation someone is having with himself, one that begins on a discouraged note but ends in quiet expectation.

I think we can all use a little bit of that right about now, don’t you? As you look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, may these verses continually flood your minds with hope and peace.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

—Lamentations 3:19-26

P.S. Linking up this week with Kelly Balarie at Purposeful Faith, Dawn Klinge at Grace & Truth, Jennifer Dukes Lee at #TellHisStory and Holley Gerth at Coffee for Your Heart.

Photo by Molly Flowers