Since COVID-19 slammed into the States in March, our vocabulary has expanded to include words and phrases we’d not employed before — social distancing, flattening the curve, and shelter-in-place to name a few.
Other expressions were familiar yet not common — pandemic, incubation, and quarantine. Then there are the words that have come to hold much dread — postponed, delayed, and cancelled. Weddings, basketball tournaments, and movie releases are among the many events and plans that have felt the crushing blow of a silent enemy.
2020 has not felt kind. We’re tired of wearing masks and keeping our distance. We are so ready for traveling and hugging, for gathering and snuggling. No. More. Isolation. No more disappointing cancellations. Please.
It’s so easy to get swallowed up by the sorrows of what could have been, but let’s not. Instead, let’s head into the holidays with hope. We can sit down, albeit at a distance, with a few loved ones to carve turkey and watch football. We can count our blessings that we live in the digital age where cell phones connect across mountains and oceans, video conferencing allows us to do our jobs remotely, and Netflix streams in all seasons.
We can choose gratitude this Thanksgiving.
And, as we look ahead to Christmas we carry that thankfulness with us into a season that can never be cancelled. Christ came. He was born. And nothing can change that.
We might have to change how we celebrate, but maybe — just maybe — our hearts will discover that Christmas is more than decorations and gifts around the tree. It’s an all-consuming hope that fills us for what is to come. There’s no cancelling that.
Shelley Johnson 
Yeah, my friend, it might have been,
but here, right now, it ain’t,
and somewhere, now amongst the din,
you may hear a saint
who calls you to a better place,
a place without resentment,
a place of growing flowing grace
that will indeed be testament
to the life you lived before,
now hobbled but not lost,
and soon you’ll find an open door,
and tally up the cost
to learn that when you lost, you won,
for you stayed faithul to the Son.
#1 at FMF this week
Amen, and so beautifully said!
It’s so much about attitude, isn’t it? I have to check mine regularly 😉 Visiting you from FMF #22
And we get to choose our attitude!! Checking mine too!!
Yes! We can get cranky, or we can choose gratitude. I choose gratitude.
Amen!
There’s NO cancelling that. You are so right. #7
No cancelling Christmas! 😉
I’m visiting from Five Minute Friday and love your post. It truly is a choice on how we respond. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! These Friday challenges are so good for me. And today’s really made me stop and think. 💜
Amen! Love this post.
Thanks for sharing.
(Visiting from #36)
Thank you so much!! Appreciate the encouragement!
Shelley, thank you for your words of hope and thankfulness. We can never forget that our hope is not in the world but in Jesus.
Vickie
Yes and amen, friend!
Beautiful reminder!!! Thank you sweet friend!! Miss you!! Happy Thanksgiving!!🦃🍁
Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving to you too! Love and miss you 💜