We have been talking a lot about gratitude at church lately. Obviously, around Thanksgiving and Christmas, we are more aware of things we are thankful for and tend to be more verbal about “things” we are thankful for. But instead of things, we want to be more grateful, truly grateful to each other. About specifics rather than generalizations. And ultimately grateful to God.

Scientifically, it’s been proven that gratitude can drastically change the makeup of your brain. Woah. Yes, you heard that right! Gratitude, or lack thereof, can alter the state of your brain. There is TONS of research on how being thankful can change your thinking and your health!

But more than your brain, “the presence of gratitude (or again, the lack thereof) is a primary revealer of the state of your soul”. And minimal gratitude in your life equals weak faith. Thanks, Chris Curtis, for that awesome (humble- ouch) reminder.

I say all of this to remind you (and us), that we have work to do in terms of being grateful! Mitchel and I have been verbalizing things that we are thankful for to each other and to God. Last week we tried to center our prayers together on being grateful to God instead of asking for things or bringing Him only requests. It was a good exercise and was actually really difficult.

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Here’s just one example of my gratefulness for Mitchel:

Mitchel, I am thankful for your kindness and empathy toward others. For your desire to help and love other people. For the ways you treat me with kindness and gentleness every single day. For the intentional questions you take the time to ask me so that I feel known and loved. For all the acts of service for my acts-of-service-loving-heart, just because you know that’s how I feel the most loved.

Mitchel’s Response:

Katie, I’ll never stop being grateful for your determination and your grace. I’m thankful for how you care for me and your patience. I’m also thankful for the fun we get to have together. I’ve learned more in our past three years of marriage than I have the previous 20 years before that.