On this Thanksgiving day, I am filled with a sense of loss. Remembering my deceased mother, and more recently my deceased aunt, I just feel sad. Perhaps you too are suffering from the well known holiday blues, missing something that is no longer in your life, which puts a damper on your celebration. The book of Psalms tells us that weeping is a part of life, that it can often endure. (Psalms30:5) Ecclesiastes also tells us that to everything there is a season. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Often I am tempted to feel that something is wrong with me in the times when I may be especially sad, while those around me seem fine or happy. These words from the Bible reminds me that it is okay to feel sad. Trusting that God will heal my wounds and mend my broken or aching heart from the sources of my sadness, allows me not to pile a feeling of guilt or judgment onto my spirit. It also relieves me from the need to hide my true feelings from others.
It's okay to feel sad. It's okay even to let others know that you are feeling sad. Often hiding the truth of how we feel from ourselves and others build up walls that serve as barriers to our own healing and the creation of a vibrant whole and transformative community. So on this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for how I feel, I am thankful for how you feel - however that may be. Most of all I am thankful that we can feel, together.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.