November 2026: Fear of Missing Thanks
Happy November!
I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes to both Grace and me. We are blessed to start our married life together in Sawyer and immensely thankful for the support and love we have received. We are excited to share our lives with you for the foreseeable future!
November is the month that we associate with giving thanks. This is primarily because within November falls the holiday of Thanksgiving – no rocket science here. While Thanksgiving isn’t strictly a Christian holiday, giving thanks is an important part of the life of a Christian; it is certainly a holiday that we celebrate and encourage in the church.
One of the chief struggles of the 21st century seems to be the struggle of FOMO, or “Fear Of Missing Out.” When some event is happening or some new gadget is released, we have cultivated a cultural identity of participating. You might not even need a new phone or care that much about the latest tech, but you’ll probably at least take a look when the new iPhone is released. You may not need the stuff that’s on sale in Meijer, but a deal is a deal. You might not have seen the latest scandal, but it’s nice to be in the know, right?
This comes, I believe, from a place of pride. By pride, I don’t necessarily mean that we are proud of our obsession with “participation.” What I mean is that pride, what at a recent conference I attended was called the root of all sin, pushes us to place ourselves and our desires at the center of all things. This leads to things like coveting what other people have, or being envious of the attention that other people receive. As a result, we want some of “that thing over there” – whatever that thing is.
I propose, as others are now doing, that we stop seeing “missing out” as an inherently bad thing. One way that we can practice contentment with what we have is through the practice of giving thanks. When we are paying attention to and specifically considering the things that we have and giving thanks to God for them, we spend a lot less of our attention on the things that everyone else has, wants, or thinks we should want.
Philippians 4 tells us that we should think about things that are good, right, and noble. This can certainly include the “new” and the “flashy.” But I think part of Paul’s encouragement to the Christians at Philippi and to us is that we should look for the ways God has blessed us in our lives today and put most of our focus there. When we are giving thanks for those things in our lives that are good, right, and noble, we are remembering God’s graciousness. After all, God has given us all that we have and gives us much than we tend to appreciate.
This November, make it a practice to give thanks for the things you have, and focus on “missing out” a little less. Blessings!