"Living from Thanksgiving to Christmas"

Making Room for Emmanuel

“Father God, we express our gratefulness to You once again…”Those words begin so many of our prayers, yet how often do we recognize the power behind them? Gratitude is not just an emotion we feel once a year at Thanksgiving—it’s a way of life, a posture of the heart, and a spiritual rhythm that shapes how we enter the Christmas season.

As we move from Thanksgiving into Christmas, we aren’t simply turning a page on the calendar. We’re being invited into a deeper, richer understanding of what it means to live aware of God’s presence—God with us—every single day.

Gratitude: Acknowledging What Already Is

True thankfulness doesn’t strive, grasp, or beg for “more. ”It simply acknowledges the truth of what is.

Gratitude recognizes that it is God who has brought us this far—not our own efforts, performance, or striving. When we live from this place, we become content and secure. We participate in what God is doing in us and for us.

Gratitude is not a denial of life’s challenges; it is a re-centering of our inner world. It shifts us:

• from scarcity → to abundance

• from self-effort → to grace

• from anxiety → to trust

• from separation → to union

Like Miss Charlene with her gratitude journal, thanksgiving moves us from the chaos of our thoughts into the stability of God’s reality.

This is what it means to live from thanksgiving.

Living From Thanksgiving Means Recognizing God Has Already Come Close

When we live in gratitude, we stop trying to “get to God. ”We realize He has already come to us.

And nowhere is that clearer than in the Christmas story.

Mary: A Posture of Gratitude That Made Room for the Impossible

In Luke 1, Mary receives a message from the angel that would change history forever:

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God…For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Mary wasn’t told to do anything extraordinary. She was simply asked to receive—to be open, willing, trusting, and receptive.

Her response?

“Let it be to me according to your word.”

Mary’s heart was receptive—open, welcoming, humble. And out of that posture of gratitude, the Word became flesh.

Gratitude became the womb for God’s promise.

This is true for us, too.

A thankful heart is a receptive heart. A receptive heart becomes a birthplace for the kingdom of God.

Gratitude Is Jesus’ Home Turf

You cannot separate thankfulness from love—they are intertwined. The atmosphere of heaven is love, yes, but it is also gratitude.

Can you imagine Jesus ungrateful? Distant? Complaining? Of course not.

When we choose gratitude, we step into the very nature of God Himself. We align our hearts with heaven.

Thankfulness creates space in us where Jesus feels at home.

Christmas: God With Us, In Us

Christmas is not nostalgia. It is not sentiment. It is revelation.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” —John 1:14

This is Emmanuel—God with us. God as one of us. God in us.

Colossians 1 tells us who this Jesus truly is:

• the image of the invisible God

• the creator of all things

• the one in whom all things consist

• the one who reconciled us to God

• the one who lives in us

And yet at Christmas we often reduce Him to a tiny figure in a nativity scene.

But this season is not just about remembering Jesus’ birth—it’s about recognizing Jesus being born in us today, in our ordinary lives, decisions, relationships, homes, and hearts.

Every “Thank You, Jesus” Makes Room for Him Again

Every time we give thanks—every time we intentionally shift our hearts to gratitude—we create space for Jesus to be seen, felt, known, and experienced.

Not in a manger—but in us.

Jesus created everything around us. He knows every circumstance, every relationship, every challenge. And the One who holds all things together lives inside you.

What then is too difficult? What is beyond His wisdom? What is too heavy for His strength?

Nothing.

Thanksgiving: The Rhythm That Keeps Us Aware of God’s Presence

Thankfulness keeps us:

• aware that God is here

• aware that God is in us

• aware that God is at work—both within and around us

As we move into Christmas, let’s practice living from thanksgiving. Let’s meditate on what it means to live aware of God’s presence and make room for Him the way Mary did.

When you do, Christmas becomes more than celebration—it becomes participation.

The manger becomes revelation.

Your life becomes a holy place. Your heart becomes a manger. Jesus is born in the everyday moments of your ordinary life.

A Prayer to Close

Father, thank You for Your beautiful Word that never returns void. Thank You for planting truth in our hearts and making it grow by Your power. Open our understanding to what it means to live from thanksgiving and step into the reality of Christmas—Emmanuel, God with us. Make room in us for Jesus to be revealed, alive, and active in our daily lives. We yield to You, we thank You, and like Mary, we say, Let it be unto us according to Your word. Amen.