With the holidays upon us, messages of giving thanks and remembering the reason for the season are not hard to find. But how do we clothe ourselves with gratitude and keep our faith secure in a time when financial pressures loom, tragedies still happen, and greed threatens to take over?

Television commercials tell us we need more and prompt our children to beg for new toys and the latest video games. Pictures of Santa’s sleigh buckling under a heavy load and images of his red velvet bag filled to overflowing attempt to confirm the idea that Christmas really is about getting everything on our list. Even our giving can become burdensome if we are giving to compete, impress or satisfy feelings of guilt.

Sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Christmas are a few weeks with the potential to set the course for our last holiday of the season and determine how we finish the year. If our focus is wrong and our hearts are set on things that shouldn’t matter, we can quickly become overwhelmed and stressed. But if we filter the season’s activities through a lens of gratitude and purposefully use our days to strengthen and build our faith, these few weeks can make an astounding difference in our lives and the lives of those around us.

Photo by Flickr Vistamommy

Why are Gratitude and Faith Important?

Gratitude takes the focus off of what we don’t have and reminds us of the blessings already present. Faith causes us to see good even when life hands us bad. Gratitude helps us appreciate the small things and replaces stress and worry with peace and contentment. Both gratitude and faith take our eyes off of ourselves and direct our attention to God and others.

Gratitude by definition is the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful. On this journey through life that includes unfulfilled expectations and dreams that don’t always come true, feelings of thankfulness are not usually our natural response. It is easy to forget to be grateful when our bank account is overdrawn or our gas tank is empty. With our vision clouded by the external and temporary, it can be difficult to see and know and feel gratitude. And often we cannot fully embrace gratitude until something happens that shakes us to our foundation and opens our eyes to what really matters.

A New Perspective

Seven years ago I was scheduled to deliver my third child on December 13. Eight weeks before this anticipated day I was diagnosed with melanoma. Without faith, my story may have had a different ending. God in His mercy and grace walked me and baby #3 victoriously through to the other side, but something happened to me along the way.

My perspective changed. My heart became grateful.

Faith gave me the courage to thank God for healing and provision before I could see it and gratitude lifted the dark clouds that threatened to destroy my hope.

Finding What Matters Most

No longer was I concerned with all the mistakes I had made; I was overwhelmed by God’s forgiveness. No longer was I mindful of all the things I did not have; I was humbled by God’s goodness and abundance of blessings already present. Buying and receiving the most expensive and perfect gifts that Christmas seemed less important. Instead, gifts I had already been given began to take on new meaning and significance.

A Reason to Celebrate

Each day is a reason to celebrate and be thankful. Every breath is a gift. Every moment holds something to be cherished.

Gratitude centers. It brings us home to a place we were created to exist. A place where hearts are opened and the truest of  gifts received.

Is there something clouding your vision today? Something causing stress and worry? Ask God to show you the gifts you’ve already been given. By faith, unwrap the presents your Father picked out just for you and let gratitude be your response.

“…always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” Ephesians 5:20.