At the beginning of this month, I had all the intentions to do weekly reflections on gratitude. I honestly was kinda impressed with how well planned it was, but here we are… 21 days into November, and I really didn’t use any of the reflections I had prepared.
At some point, even with the most honest intentions, I think gratitude and reflection began to feel like just one more thing to do—another item to check off a list. And maybe that’s where I was missing the point.
So here I am, laughing at my cute little reflections, still a little bit sick, and sorting through how, over these past 21 days, gratitude has begun to shift so much in my heart and mind.
It hasn’t been in the ways I thought it would be. Gratitude didn’t come through perfectly timed reflections or well-laid plans. It’s shown up in the mess—in the moments where I felt like I wasn’t enough, where things didn’t go as I’d hoped, and even in the unexpected pauses that sickness brought.
Gratitude has a way of surprising us like that. It sneaks into the unplanned, the uncomfortable, and the unfinished. It’s not just something we do, its not how clean your house is next week, or how the turkey turns out, it’s something we begin to notice when we slow down long enough to let it in.
The Recognition: Naming What Is Already There
I think gratitude begins with something simple: noticing the abundance that already surrounds us. It’s an awareness of the small, quiet gifts that we often miss. And as we sit with it, gratitude can deepen—even or maybe especially in the hard moments.
There’s something beautiful and challenging about acknowledging the tension between gratitude and discomfort. It reminds us that life is never just one thing. Gratitude doesn’t erase pain or fear; it meets them with kindness.
The Transformation: Sitting with Discomfort
This week, I had to step back from something I cared deeply about. My body demanded rest, but my heart wrestled with feelings of failure and fear. I was afraid of letting others down. Afraid of being seen as unreliable. Afraid, maybe, that I wasn’t needed after all.
Sitting with those feelings, instead of pushing them away, gave gratitude a deeper home. It wasn’t the gratitude that says, “I’m thankful this all worked out.” It was the kind that whispers, “Even here, even now, I can see what matters.”
When we rush past discomfort, we miss the quiet transformation that gratitude brings. We miss the way it teaches us to show up—not just in our strengths but in our vulnerability, too.
The Connection: Gratitude as a Way of Seeing
Gratitude is not a solitary act. It connects us—to others, to ourselves, and to a story that is much bigger. When we begin to live from a place of gratitude, we start seeing others with more care and understanding. Gratitude shifts the way we view scarcity and abundance, fear and hope, failure and success.
It’s in these moments that gratitude stops being something we do and starts being who we are. Gratitude becomes the language of connection. It shows up not as a checklist but as an extension of the love we’ve received.
An Invitation to Pause
Take a moment. What are three things you are thankful for right now—not just the obvious ones, but the small, quiet gifts you might have overlooked?
What is something you are holding in tension—a fear, a failure, a moment of uncertainty—and how might gratitude meet you there?
And as we step into a week and a holiday that so often focuses on personal abundance, I’d love to invite you to expand your gratitude even further.
What might it look like to extend gratitude beyond your own circle? To notice the beauty in a stranger, the resilience in someone else’s story, or the quiet ways others contribute to the world around you?
How could gratitude inspire you to step beyond your comfort zone—whether that’s offering connection to someone who might feel left out, supporting a cause that aligns with your values, or simply practicing a deeper kind of listening with the people you encounter?
Gratitude grows when we move beyond what feels safe or familiar. It has the power to break down walls, shift perspectives, and help us see each other with more care and compassion.
So this next week, as many of us get together with family or for some of us who won’t, let gratitude flow not just from what you have or what feels good, but from the courage to connect with others in meaningful, maybe even unexpected, ways.
Gratitude is not just a feeling; it’s an invitation to show up, to notice, and to care more deeply…what an amazing gift we have to share with one another!
P.S. I wanted to share a handful of my favorite pictures from this past Sunday. Even without me there, people gathered to clean, paint, and connect. In some ways, witnessing it all from afar feels like an even greater gift. I wonder if some of you feel the same—seeing that you’re part of making this happen, part of something bigger. Gosh, I’m just so thankful for what The Giving Gifts is becoming.
