Let It Go!

Glancing through my Facebook newsfeed, I saw A LOT of people were putting up Christmas decorations this weekend. I'm a stanch believer in waiting until after Thanksgiving to put up any decorations or basically doing anything towards Christmas. Thanksgiving, I feel, is one of the most overlooked holidays. It's so close to Christmas, everybody is already looking forward to and planning for Christmas and the holiday season. For God's sake people, stop planning what expensive toys, trinkets and technology you're going to buy for the people in your life. Take a week in a 52 week year and spend every single day of it being thankful for everything we are given as American citizens. Seven whole days out of 365 days being thankful for every little thing that we have and not complaining about what we don't have. Do some say our country is falling apart under the current leadership, absolutely. Who can say they HAVEN'T complained about Congress' inability to pass any laws? Can anybody say they've gone even a day, let alone a whole week, without picking up their smart phones, tablets or computer? Can we say that we've taken time out of our oh so busy lives to call our grandparents-the ones that built this country and would be ashamed to watch the ACM awards on TV tonight.

Have I complained about government in the past week, yes. I don't remember the last time I didn't get on my computer in the evening. I haven't talked to my 101 year old Grandma in about 2 weeks. Am I so busy that I can't take 5 minutes out of a 24 hour period to call my grandma on the phone or even better...go see her!? How blessed are we in this country to have everything we have? And have the need for #firstworldproblems when we can't find two of the same color socks? What is wrong with our civilization that we have to complain about EVERYTHING! That we are so busy bustling through this life, that we can't take the time to do the things that truly matter. In the last week alone, I can think of a dozen things that I've nagged Matt about doing or not doing. If I'm honest there's been a dozen things today alone. Why? Why do I have to nag about the little things that I feel should be done and be done MY way. Why can't I appreciate the stress he's under and instead of adding to that stress by nagging, take away the stress by just doing the things I want him to do.

Why!? Why can't the world's problems be solved peacefully? Why can't every child born in the world, be born into a loving situation? Why can't there be food, water and shelter available for EVERY SINGLE person on this Earth? One of my Forever's most favorite thing to say right now has to deal with the movie Frozen. Whenever I'm going on a rant about something and in the process of creating a grudge that I fully intend to hold for a long time, he asks me if I've seen the movie Frozen and after telling him yes, he tell me to, "Let It Go".

Let go of the anger towards fellow human beings, let go of the hurt and disappointment, let go of the worry, let go of being a person that complains and nags, let go of not doing the little things for your family, let go of the battle to be number one.

We aren't church attenders. I cherish Matt and I's Sunday mornings of being together. Sunday mornings are our time to be together, to chat and to love. Not that we don't all week, it just seems like Sunday mornings, there are less distractions and we can just be for a little while. I love everything about our Sunday mornings.

If you believe in God, you believe that everything happens for a reason. If everything was perfect in the world, there would be no need for God. It's our weakest moment, that God takes control of our lives and shows us the path he has for us. He has a reason that there is so much anger, hurt, disappointment, worry, complaining, nagging and competitions in the world. For everything there is a reason. For everything there is a season. Even in the worst times you can always say, "and this too shall pass". Whatever the "this" is for you that you are waiting to get past, take time each day this week to be thankful for every little blessing in life. Be thankful we're in America, a country that has amazingly brilliant healthcare givers so we have minimal disease outbreak unlike Africa, a country that has freedom to choose, unlike so many other countries, a country that an individual can make change happen in, a country that we get to be so blessed that we forget how blessed we are and complain about how slow the internet is working, not that we don't have internet, but it's just working too slow.

Every single day this week, take 60 seconds out of your day to thank somebody or do something nice for somebody. There are people in your own communities that don't have it as good as you. Take a moment this week and do something for those people. Take a salad to your local Thanksgiving dinner, volunteer your time. Be thankful for the family you have around you. A 15 year old girl from Topeka passed away this week after a courageous battle with a brain tumor. If that doesn't put life into perspective for you, not a lot will. 15 years old, not even through high school and she faced death. Her family is without her this Thanksgiving and Christmas season. A classmate of mine passed away in high school our junior year and I miss him everyday. What do you think those families feel? Everybody has lost somebody in their lives. Appreciate the people in your lives everyday, but especially now. Take the time this week, to be thankful of their presence in your life and LET THEM KNOW you appreciate and love them. Take the time to be thankful for all the blessings we have just by being born in this country. Take the time to be thankful for the little things in your lives, like the availability to food, water and shelter. Not too far away from us, maybe even down the street, is somebody that doesn't even have that.

This holiday season after we've been properly thankful for everything and start stringing our lights, decorating houses, picking out the perfect tree, preparing scrumptious feasts, loosening the waste bands on our cloths and perfecting the perfect gift, I encourage all of us to let go of the negativity that is all around us, instead be the change you want to see in the world as Gandhi said.

Enough of a soap box for you? Pushing Thanksgiving to the back burner has always bothered me because there are so many things we need to be thankful for, but it's so easy to skip over. Borrowing lyrics from the oh so popular, Frozen...


Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door!

Turn away and slam the door in the face of not being thankful, of skipping over Thanksgiving and not helping your fellow human. For one week of the year just LET IT GO!