2020 Home for the Holidays

2020 Home for the Holidays LINCOLN DAILY NEWS November 25, 2020 Page 5 2. GRATITUDE: The first celebrated Thanksgiving happened when immigrant people and native people came together to express gratitude toward one another for the sharing and cooperation that resulted in them all still being alive. From that humble potluck came our traditional holiday to express gratitude to God for His all sufficient grace and continuous provision. We are instructed in the Bible to give thanks for all things. However, that instruction isn’t given because God needs our gratitude. We are given this command because our gratitude changes us, especially in hard times. Gratitude helps us appropriately take stock of our lives, lifting us up despite the circumstances, and restores us to right thinking and feeling. Gratitude is in fact the most powerful emotion for a good life. 3. REMEMBRANCE: During the holiday season we have many opportunities to look back and remember, and share those memories with others. Remembering the Bible story of the baby Jesus, the wise men, and the angelic choir that sang in the sky, grounds us in the true meaning of Christmas. We also share stories of past Christmases and past joys, friends and relatives, many who have gone home to be with Jesus, and their contributions to our lives. And we remember the warmth of friendship and the value of family. Remembrance has great power over us to level us out, ground us, and remind us that we are not bereft and alone. Share those remembrances with loved ones this holiday season, on voice chats, on phone calls, in texts and email this holiday season. It will lift them up, and it will change you! 4. FORGIVENESS: There is much brokenness in this world. We encounter it every day, and often we ourselves also author brokenness. The holiday season, consisting of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s puts a spotlight on all this brokenness and positively urges us to offer the apology, forgive and forget past trespasses, slights, and wrongs, begin relationships anew with grace, because we ourselves have indeed received great Grace! These holiday elements: APPRECIATION, GRATITUDE, REMEMBRANCE AND FORGIVENESS are choices we can make this holiday season. And when you choose them (and you can), despite the present external circumstances, you will make this the best holiday season ever! God’s blessing upon you all! [Jim Youngquist with Aaron Bird]