Why Practice Gratitude? Thanksgiving as Rehearsal for Joy
If I’m honest, the past few years have been rough—a long season of unexpected change, loss, and grief. But recently, sitting on my back porch with the morning light streaming through the first turning leaves, I found myself talking with my 21-year-old daughter on the phone and suddenly aware of the goodness shimmering through it all—the beauty of creation, the gift of her voice, and the gift of connection to one another. I’ve been working in my own therapy to notice moments like this, to let my heart pause instead of rushing past what polyvagal expert Deb Dana calls “glimmers” (moments that calm and regulate our nervous system toward connection and joy). And slowly, through this practice, it feels like my heart is being re-tuned to the quiet, steady evidence of God’s grace all around me. My heart is being re-tuned away from a tired, numb, even resentful, posture, to the quiet, steady evidence of grace all around me.
Practicing gratitude may feel small or simple, but it’s actually a glimpse of eternity—of the day when everything broken will be made whole. It isn’t just a nice feeling or a holiday table practice; it certainly isn’t a way to hide or minimize the deep pain we feel in life in this world. Rather, it’s a way of living in the world as it truly is—shot through with God’s presence, even in sorrow. Every time we pause to notice beauty, to give thanks in the middle of our ordinary lives, we are joining the future joy of heaven, where all things will finally be made whole. In giving thanks, we are not just willing a better mindset, we are actually practicing for the world to come. We are actively looking forward to a world in which all Creation sings, where there is no more crying. We are learning, bit by bit, to practice for heaven. One day, all joy will be restored and there will be nothing else for us to do but give thanks.
Because of Hebb’s Law (“whatever fires together, wires together”), what we practice repeatedly will eventually form who we are. In other words, God has built into our body-brain system a deep capacity for change and healing through repeated practices like gratitude. Because of this, whenever we give thanks, our system is re-wiring for patient, even joyful, endurance. What we give our attention to is changing; over time, we develop a healthy bias toward goodness and faith. In a world where it is easy to be shaped by cynicism and resentment, the capacity to become a person of gratitude and patience amidst suffering and pain is nothing short of remarkable (and another reason to give thanks!). The world constantly trains our hearts in bitterness—but by God’s grace, we can choose a different way. Each act of gratitude is practice for the world to come.
What if every prayer of thanks in the coming weeks became a way of turning your heart toward home?
Try this: Take an astronaut’s view of your life by imagining in your mind’s eye that you are hovering over your life and looking down to survey the whole of it, like an astronaut in space looking at Earth. Notice the glimmers in your life, giving thanks for each one by name. Practice this pause daily to begin practicing for a world made whole.
