Growing Gratitude in Your Life and Marriage
After almost fourteen years of marriage, we have returned to a season where we can give each other much needed attention we deserve, and I am thankful for it. But it wasn’t always this way, and when it wasn’t, it was hard to be grateful.
There are moments when I have missed being thankful for what I have. Things and times I’ve failed to be thankful, even in the difficult moments, because bad moments don’t make bad marriages. Our precious marriages are worth our gratitude even when it feels like there’s nothing to be grateful for.
Just like with so many things, the practice of gratitude is just that – effort. Intentionality and gratitude go hand-in-hand.
Here are a few practical ways to practice gratitude in your life and marriage:
- Journal your gratitude. Keep a journal devoted solely to gratitude lists, each day adding new items that you are thankful for in your life and in your marriage. Start with one and see how many things you can be thankful for at the end of each year. It will do your heart good to count your blessings.
- Speak your thankfulness. Tell your husband, children, and friends that you are thankful for them, and what it is specifically that day that makes you thankful. Is it something kind they did? Their smile or laughter? It is something they said? Even if it feels like something small, practice verbally expressing your thankfulness.
- Ask God for a thankful heart. In difficult seasons it can feel hard to be thankful. No matter what your circumstances, pray and ask God to give you a thankful heart and new perspective of your situation, helping you to look for the good around you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18, “give thanks in everything.”
We can give thanks in the small things, and in the big things. The small moments of date nights, or the passionate fights that lead to passionate make ups, stealing a kiss in the parking lot, listening to their laughter, and so many other things.
Don’t discount the power of a thankful heart, especially in your marriage. Thankfulness breeds joy, joy brings contentment, and in contentment we thrive.
Wife Step: Do one of the three above, right now!
“Do not worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6
Michelle is a writer and speaker on a mission to equip women to thrive in their walk with Jesus by getting into God’s Word every day. She is a wife to Jeremy – a Minister of Music, and mom to three wild and wonderful kids. She loves Christmas music all year, collecting shells, crazy socks, and drinking lots of coffee. You can find her at www.displayinggrace.com, on Instagram @displayinggrace, or on Facebook @Displaygrace
Amen!!