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I am an avid journaler.  Most days I journal once in the morning when I first get up and once at night before I go to bed.  My journaling has taken many forms over the years and serves a variety of purposes.  But the most powerful journaling practice I have ever done is making a gratitude list.  No matter how I’m feeling or what’s going on in the world, taking the time to stop and focus on what I am grateful for helps to ground me in the present (not past regret or resentment, not future worry or fear) and reminds me of the good and beautiful in my life.

Even though it might sound simple, if you are not in the habit of focusing on gratitude, it can sometimes be difficult to make a list!  Negativity is loud in our world and fear, anger, and resentment can easily become our focus to the point where we struggle to see anything worth being grateful for.  It takes practice to look for the good and beautiful, especially on hard days.  It takes practice to slow down long enough to notice the goodness and beauty around you, or to seek it out and cultivate it in your life.  A friend of mine makes sure to always have her favorite coffee and juice on hand so that no matter what else is happening, she can be grateful for those small pleasures in her day.  Such a small thing, but this practice helps remind her that she can always find something to be grateful for, even on her worst days.

Focusing on gratitude is not about ignoring what is wrong in our lives or the world.  It is not about pretending to be ok when we’re not.  Instead, the spiritual practice of gratitude helps keep us mindful and aware of the good and beautiful that exists in the world and helps prevent the bad from blinding us to the abundant goodness God provides.  For me, practicing gratitude not only amplifies my awareness of goodness and beauty in my life, it also strengthens me and makes me better able to deal with hard stuff.  And there is a lot of hard stuff right now.  

If you, like me, are feeling tired and worn down by everything that is going wrong in the world, I encourage you to take some time each day to practice gratitude.  It is a small way to take care of yourself during these difficult times.  It can help fill us up when we are drained and help to keep us grounded in hope.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to be a people of hope and to work towards the good world that God desires for all of creation.  Gratitude is a way to maintain our focus on that vision.  

If this is a new practice for you, start by listing just 2 or 3 things each day.  But keep at it and look for more things to add to your list!  On really bad days, my list might be: “I am grateful for a safe place to live, a comfortable bed to sleep in, and that tomorrow is a new day” but the more I practice, the longer my list gets.  I start noticing goodness and beauty in places I would have otherwise overlooked: “I am grateful for birds flying overhead on my way to get the mail, the way the light looks shining through the leaves, my cat purring in my lap, the beauty of a spider web spun outside my window.  I am grateful for blue sky after a stretch of cloudy-ness, for warm toast with melting butter, for the beauty of music and how my favorite song can lift my mood, for a fuzzy blanket on a chilly day, for the chance to make dinner for my family, for cold water when I’m thirsty, for a good-night hug from my daughter…”  The more I practice noticing these things, the more goodness and beauty I see!

This Holiday Season, I encourage you to take on the spiritual practice of gratitude.  Practice looking for all the beauty that God has created and for the goodness of God at work in the world in big and small ways.  Even on the hard days, see how long your gratitude list can be!  The small practice can help encourage and strengthen you…and keep you focused on our loving God, the source of all goodness and beauty. 

Send me a note at pastorheather@hclchurch.com - let me know what you are grateful for today.