So, 2020… that was… something! Heading into the new decade a year ago, I remember thinking this was likely going to be a less than stellar kind of year. After all, there was going to be a heated election, and those always have a way of getting people riled up. But little did I know what else was in store for months that followed!

But, regardless of whether 2020 is a year best left in the rearview mirror, in this last post of December, I want to try to redeem this dumpster fire just a bit. For this last post of the year, I want to talk about what I have been most thankful for from the past 12 months.

In the Bible, we followers of God are again and again called to have to be grateful and thankful. Even if the Bible is not your cup of tea (in which case I am certainly both grateful and thankful to have you here reading a church blog!), there are many studies that show that being grateful and thankful, even in the face of great adversity, has an enormously positive benefit to your health. By my reckoning, 2020, if it counts as anything, certainly was great adversity, and so when could be a better time to focus on gratitude?

As such, here is my list of things that I am thankful for, looking back on 2020. They are by no means a complete list, nor are they in any particular order:

• I am thankful for my (relative) health. Even apart from (as of my writing this) being fortunate enough to have avoided the disease, I have reasons to be thankful for my health specific to 2020. As many of your know, I have a congenital heart defect. As fewer of you know, my defect causes a fair amount of discomfort every single time I get sick. As a proud father of a 3-year-old who has a deep-seated passion for putting new objects in her mouth (as all 3-year-olds do), this has caused me no shortness of sickness over the past few years. In 2020 however, due to lockdowns and social distancing, my household has gotten sick exactly once over the whole year, instead of the usual four to five-time that would have been just for the fall alone!

• I am thankful for my family. It is possible that I have spent more time with my wife and daughter during this year than in all the years we have been together before this combined. Did this sudden increase in time together result in several occasions of sparks flying? Most certainly! That is what happens to all people who are used to spending one level of time together that then suddenly have that amount changed drastically with no period of adjustment. But do I also exit this year more thankful for my wife and daughter than I have ever been before? Absolutely.

• I am thankful for my Church. Strangely, this year has been the year when the Church has meant more to me than it ever has before. On the surface, this may seem odd, as we have not been able to see one another in person for half the Sundays of 2020, but here is my figuring. I am not sure how you all feel about the lockdown, but for me, I have found that it has been very easy for time to kind of lift-off into a haze where days no longer have much of a meaning. It was Church that grounded me from suffering this feeling too much. Over this past year, the church provided me with purpose, provided me with a schedule, helped strengthen my relationship with God in new ways and provided me with things to look forward to. None of this even begins to touch on what a great blessing for me my congregants have been over the past 12 months as well. They have been there for me when I needed them to be the most. Know that it has meant a lot.

• Connected to Church, I am also thankful for work. As many of you know, not long into the first lockdown, Shannon lost the main client for her editing business. While there has been the odd job here and there, for the most part, our family has been on a single income for the entirety of the lockdown. While this has certainly led to a lot of stress and a number of tight months, it has also made me particularly thankful that my position as pastor has kept on. This was not the case for a number of other pastors across the country. I have seen a lot of people whose jobs came either temporarily or fully to an end as a result of the pandemic. I have also met a lot of people whose businesses were even harder hit than ours. My heart goes out to each of you, truly. So for me to be thankful that work went on, that Is something I do not take lightly.

• I am thankful for MacGregor. Really all of North Norfolk would fit the bill. Near the end of 2019, we bought our first house here in MacGregor. That in itself is undoubtedly a blessing, but as it was in 2019, I won’t count that unexpected blessing here. However, with its location right in the middle of town, in 2020 we were thrust into local life in a new way like never before. As a result, I can say truly that a town more filled with optimism for the future even in the midst of tough times, a town more concerned with taking care of its neighbours, and a town better to call home, I am not convinced exists. So in 2020, I am thankful to call MacGregor, Manitoba, and all of North Norfolk my home. From its businesses to the other churches and their pastors (who I am thankful enough to be able to call my friends), to the other individuals, charities, and schools who all come together to make this town something special, the value of all of this is impressed on me more fully every day.

2020 has been a tough year. No doubt about that. Due to my position as pastor, I know to some extent just how hard it has been for a lot of you reading this as well. Know me saying what I am thankful for now in no way is trying to take away or lessen your pain. The way this year has hurt us is legitimate and it is hard. Also, please know that I pray for all of you who I know it has hurt often.

Instead, by making this list, I do so in order that I can look at the things I have written down, showing myself that it wasn’t all a writeoff. When I do that, God to me seems just a little more present, and the world seems a little bit less of a scary place.

And so, for this same reason, now I encourage all of you to do the same as I have. Whether 2020 was the worst year you have lived through or one of the best, make your own list of things that you have been thankful for over the past 12 months. Feel free to post it in the comments below. I guarantee you, that you will be left in a bit of a better place if you do.

Happy New Years, everyone! Now let’s see what 2021 has for us!