The Message translates this passage, “Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude.”
As we approach Thanksgiving Day, it just does not look or feel as it usually does. I’m not washing sheets and making up beds nice and fresh, and I’m not planning a big festive meal. I’m not getting flowers or new soaps for the guest rooms. I’m not trying to find the cake keeper or the biggest casserole dish. I’m not making a big grocery list or strategizing the oven and the stove to make sure I can get everything done at the right time. I’m not checking to see if my good orange sweater is free of holes and last year’s Thanksgiving dinner stains. Our kids and grandkids can’t come home to be with us because travel is too difficult and risky. I am pretty glum about all of this. You may be feeling some of the same feelings. But Scripture asks me to approach this time with thanksgiving and gratitude. I mean, it’s right there in the name of the day: Thanksgiving! So I have taken a deep breath and am trying to push myself into thankfulness in a time when I feel gloomy about Thanksgiving.
My scripture tells me to pray hard, devoting myself diligently to prayer. It asks me to push in to prayer wholeheartedly, not halfheartedly or lazily (or gloomily!). The Scripture asks me to be alert as I pray, with eyes wide open. It doesn’t ask me to pretend things are other than what they are. It doesn’t ask me to fake it or put myself to sleep to avoid the trying times we are living in. Scripture asks me to be alert.
And finally, Scripture asks me to give thanks and be full of gratitude. Perhaps I can find ways to be grateful and give thanks in spite of the differences this year. It will indeed be totally different. But as I pray and trust God, I may find new things to enjoy and new ways to give thanks. Because I am diligently praying and keeping my eyes open, I put myself in the position of actually finding reasons to be grateful.
I am thankful most of all for a God who transforms even tough circumstances with the power of the Holy Spirit! I can wait and pray, anticipating that God will find ways to bless me, and you, and our distant friends and loved ones.