Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100 NIV

There are just some songs, regardless of musical genre, that would easily fit into the category of nostalgia.  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” would be one of them.  I wonder if Bing Crosby ever imagined that his song would be one of those at the top of the nostalgia category nine decades later. Naturally, there are always new songs coming out during the different holidays, some will be classics, and others will quickly be forgotten. I am unsure if Carrie Underwood’s, Stretchy Pants fun song will top Bing Crosby but the words speak truth.

So bring on the turkey, potatoes, casserole dishes
‘Cause I ain’t messing around with them buttoned up britches
You got them skinny jeans on, girl, I feel sorry for you
‘Cause I just tried everything, and I’m going back for round two (from Stretchy Pants song by Carrie Underwood, https://youtu.be/Eo5ZLdbcZsk?si=OE5_klcJrnUiMQNv

There is no doubt that the Christmas season dominates the music scene, according to Blokur, there are 9,274 songs with Christmas in the title. (from the article, How Many Christmas Songs, Phil Barry). Stretchy Pants may be an appropriate song for Thanksgiving Day but does it Cultivate One’s Soul for Thanksgiving?

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving requires us to look beyond what we have to the Who that has our lives and is worthy of Thanksgiving. “Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 115:1 NIV) We live in an age when we like nice and tidy cubicles to define our lives; How can I be thankful when I am in pain? How can offer praise when I am anxious about tomorrow? However, it was in the mystery and the challenges of life that the Psalmist wrote of thanksgiving often nested amid lament.

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving doesn’t happen on one day of the year. Sitting around the table on Thanksgiving Day is a great time to reflect on what you have to be thankful for but not if you haven’t cultivated the soul’s thankfulness the other 364 days this year. Retired minister Fred Gulley writes, “Neither original authors, nor commentators, nor translators delayed thanksgiving until a special occasion or a red letter calendar day. Any day, every day, was considered an opportunity to be grateful for abundant blessings and to express personal thankfulness.”

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving is about learning to be thankful. November may be the transition month to Christmas but it is also National Gratitude Month. Research has shown that the simple act of expressing gratitude has a major impact on mental health. “Studies have found that a single act of thoughtful gratitude produces an immediate 10% increase in happiness and a 35% reduction in depressive symptoms. These effects disappeared within three to six months, which reminds us to practice gratitude over and over.”  (National Council for Mental Wellbeing)

Professors Bob Emmons of UC, Davis and Michael McCullough of SMU launched a series of studies on gratitude.  Professor Emmons noted that “People want to be happy, but they believe it’s objective life circumstances that will make them happy—a new car, a raise, a new lover. Actually, it’s the framing of events and experiences—not the events themselves—that make us happy. It comes down to attitude.”

The writers of the Psalms understood the necessity of gratitude centuries before the current awareness of keeping a Gratitude Journal. As you are cultivating your soul you learn that “Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.” (Psalm 112:4)

A lot of folks will be traveling over the next couple of weeks as they gather with families and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. The TSA reports that “the busiest travel days of the year are usually the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after Thanksgiving.” (AFAR) As you gather around the table this year, let it be a Holy Ground moment for your soul to gently rest as you “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.” (Psalm 136)

Johnny Cash understood the importance of gratitude after his career and life were almost destroyed by a serious substance abuse problem. Through all his lows, he never abandoned his faith. Lesli White writes of Cash, “In his final days, despite moment-by-moment battles with diabetes, glaucoma, asthma and a progressive, debilitating case of autonomic nephropathy which pretty much confined Cash to a wheelchair during his waking hours, the Man in Black was anything but in a black mood. In fact, he was celebrating his life and his redeemer while he could.”  Johnny Cash Cultivated His Soul for Thanksgiving.

I’m grateful for the laughter of children
The sun and the wind and the rain
The color of blue in your sweet eyes
The sight of a high “ballin” train
The moon rise over a prairie
Old love that you’ve made new
This year when I count my blessings
I’m thanking the Lord He made you
This year when I count my blessings
I’m thanking the Lord He made you   (Johnny Cash, Thanksgiving Prayer https://youtu.be/egIB7tYW80M?si=YU-_CLsOUMLj9Q1J )

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving leads to a beautiful testimony of being able to “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (I Chron 16:34 NIV)

God is great!