An Invitation to the Continual Feast

Today is Thanksgiving Day, a day in which we feast and pause to reflect on things we are thankful for. While it is wonderful that we do this, it’s more important that we cultivate thanksgiving as a lifestyle.

This is harder for some people to do than others, including myself. It can be easy to focus on life’s problems, disappointments, frustrations, losses, and pain. But when we focus on it, we feast on it. At what cost? Missing out on the life God meant for us to live, even in a broken world? Count them up – how many negative happy people do you know?

I’ve noticed people who are positive seem to enjoy their life. I believe this is because they not only think and believe the best (God’s prescription for this is Philippians 4:8, written by someone sitting in a prison) but they also regularly practice gratitude – thinking about and focusing on things they are thankful for – letting that dominate their thoughts.

The Bible verifies these outcomes. Proverbs 15:15 says, “For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.”

Focus on the bad, and it will consume your thoughts and your outlook on life. It will also make you miserable. Focus on the good, and it will shift your thoughts and outlook. It forms a happy heart. You cannot focus on both at the same time. One will distract you from the other – for better or worse. Why does this happen? Because the brain cannot effectively focus intently on two things at the same time. Think about it – sure, you can do laundry and watch television, but can you write an email and do a math problem at the same time? No, the brain cannot do this. It must switch from one activity to the other in order to complete the task.

Whatever we focus on has our full attention. Whatever we focus on, we feast on. Imagine if those of us who tend to bend toward the negative could learn to shift our focus onto gratitude and thanksgiving more regularly. Imagine if we did this more and more until it became our default response? Could we retrain our brains? I believe we can. What does this need to look like for you? What practice could you incorporate into your life to cultivate more gratitude, to create this shift in perspective until it becomes your default response?

Problems will always be there. Jesus said we would have trouble in this world (John 16:33). We don’t need to work at finding problems. We need to work at being thankful, choosing gratitude. Because whatever table we decide to feast at will consume us.

Will you join me at the Thanksgiving table?