When Gratitude Feels ImpossibleGrief is hard.
It’s heavy.
It’s an impossible burden to carry.
It’s heavy.
It’s an impossible burden to carry.
It feels like you’re always going to feel this way. You’re angry, sad, overwhelmed, and completely spent. There are endless questions — Why did this happen? Why do I have to feel this way? When will it stop? You can’t imagine ever moving through the grief to the other side. And part of you doesn’t even want to, because that might mean you’re forgetting.
Grief can feel intense, exhausting, and completely unfair.
I get it. I experienced all of this when my husband passed. Some days, the weight of it all made it nearly impossible to get out of bed. Other days brought a brief sense of relief — only to be followed by guilt because maybe I wasn't missing him enough.
Now we’re entering a season of gratitude. But what if you don’t feel you have anything to be grateful for?
Perhaps this is your first holiday season without your spouse, and the last thing you want to do is be joyful and thankful. It feels fake and exhausting. Maybe it's been many years since you lost your loved one, and you can’t handle hearing one more person say, “Just be thankful for what you had,” as if those words could somehow fix the ache in your heart.
I want you to know — it’s okay.It’s okay if you don’t feel like celebrating.
It’s okay to do things differently this year.
It’s okay if you don’t feel thankful or joyful while everyone else is excited for the season.
You’ve experienced a profound loss, and no amount of “just be thankful” will change that.
In my own darkest days, one truth has quietly carried me:
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” (Psalm 34:18)
Maybe that’s all you need this holiday season — to remember that even in your pain, God is there.
He’s not demanding that you be thankful.
He’s not telling you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and move on.
He’s not asking you to smile and pretend everything is fine.
He’s not telling you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and move on.
He’s not asking you to smile and pretend everything is fine.
He’s right there in the grief and the mess with you — holding you close through the hardest, darkest nights and the days that feel impossible.
So perhaps instead of trying hard to get into the holiday spirit, we simply choose to remember:
The Lord is here.
And for now, that’s enough.
The Lord is here.
And for now, that’s enough.
Maybe your gratitude today is simply that God hasn’t left you.
If you’re walking through grief and need a quiet place to process, I have created resources specifically for you in my Etsy shop, HOPE & HARMONY PAGES. These three digital printables work on their own and hand in hand with each other:
30 SCRIPTURE CARDS FOR GRIEF. If you know someone these might encourage, I would be honored if you’d share these resources—and my blog—with them.
0 Comments