The past few weeks have been a blur. An unanticipated surgery led to an antibiotic-resistant infection that bulldozed me in every way. As I came out of the fog of illness and sedatives, a new fog settled in. One of disappointment and frustration and anxiety and heartsoreness. This was not how my year was supposed to end. This was not how my life was supposed to look.

And yet... In the stillness, I also feel overwhelming gratitude to have come out the other side. I am thankful for those who showed up in much-needed physical, practical, and heart-strengthening ways. I am thankful for all the good — the unbelievable amounts of good — in my life.

So while I start this new year — this new decade — with more fatigue and less strength than I would like, I’m choosing to focus on what I have and who I am more than what I lack and who I’m not . Discontent comes more naturally to me than thankfulness does, so I’m going to more intentionally lean into gratitude in the year ahead.

Okay, 2020. Ready or not, here you are. I see you with all your still-unknown mountains and valleys. And I raise you, with gratitude.

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Do you have a word you’re choosing to focus on in 2020? I’d love to hear how it found you.

And if you haven’t already joined the One Word 365 community, please do!

Choose One Word for 2020

My Thanksgivings the past few years have looked (and felt) very different than they used to. Granted, I've celebrated most Thanksgivings of my adult life across the ocean in a country that doesn't even recognize the holiday. But it didn't matter. We made them uniquely special, and always a memorable celebration of giving thanks.

My favorite tradition is one I began in Africa. Every year, we build a Wall of Thanks.

I place out Post-it notes and markers, and throughout the day, people write down things they are thankful for and post them on the wall.

I always make multiple trips to the wall—to read and to add more things I am grateful for—and love watching others do the same.

It is heart-filling to stand and read the gratitude plastered on that wall. Deep, meaningful, significant things as well as the humorous, inside-joke-only kinds of things.

The wall stands as more than a list of what we are collectively thankful for. It holds memories, hope, promises, truth. It holds what was and may never be again, but also what will someday be. It holds the joy of loving and being loved. It holds... me.

And this altogether new and different and somewhat strange Thanksgiving, I'll surely have my Wall of Thanks yet again.

Will you join me?

Maybe it's a new tradition you can start with your own loved ones. And together we can build our Wall of Thanks wherever we are...

If you post pictures of your Wall or your Post-its, I wanna see them! Tag me on Facebook—and on Twitter and Instagram, use the hashtag #WallOfThanks, so we can celebrate with each other.

No matter what is going on in our lives—no matter the season we've just endured or are currently crawling through—we can choose to say "Thank You" to the One who understands even when we don't.

And please know this... YOU, my Gritty family, will certainly be a Post-it note on my Wall of Thanks.

Will you join me with your own Wall of Thanks this year? What's your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?