Seeking Goodness, Giving Thanks

This is an excerpt of an article that was originally published in The Joyful Life magazine in the fall of 2021. I offer it here as an encouragement both to you and to me to press on in the holy habit of giving thanks.

As we finished cleaning up lunch, I told my boys to go grab their gratitude journals. A few moments later, my youngest came skipping into the dining room, his journal tucked under his arm. “I love Thankful Time!” he sang out to no one in particular.

One of his brothers came plodding along after him, loosely gripping his journal as it flopped around, banging his knees, the walls, and anything else in his way. “I don’t feel like doing gratitude journaling,” he groaned.

As we sat down, I worked to funnel one boy’s enthusiasm into a list of things he was thankful for (hippopotamuses, mommy’s cooking, Jesus, the bird feeder) and to encourage the other to take it one step at a time.

“You don’t need to feel like doing it in order to do it. Just think of one good thing in your day so far and write it down.”

After an impressive display of sighs and fidgets and frowns, he picked up his pencil and wrote “spaghetti.” “Good,” I told him. “Now think of another.” He started writing again, and this time, he did not stop until he had a list of 10 things. When he put the pencil down, there was no trace of the mopey boy who had trudged to the table. He closed his book and waltzed out of the room with a spring in his step and a sparkle in his eyes.

Later that night, as I was getting ready to crawl into bed, I saw my gratitude journal sitting on my dresser. No, I thought. I’m too tired. Too tired to be thankful. The scene from earlier in the day flashed through my mind. You make the boys do it whether they feel like it or not. Annoyed but convicted, I flipped open my journal, intending to quickly jot a few things down and be done with it. I began to write:

reading good books while snuggled up with the boys

an encouraging text from a friend

sparkly eyes and giggles

the beauty of the fresh flowers glowing in the afternoon sun

little boys who like hippopotamuses…

As my list grew longer, I felt my face soften and tension slowly slip from my shoulders. A growing awareness of God’s goodness and love began to swell in my heart. My weary apathy melted away to make room for a sense of deep, abiding gratitude.

As I drifted off to sleep that night, my thankful prayers mingled with wonder-filled thoughts. I marveled at the way the simple act of listing a few good things was the spark God used to turn a grumpy boy’s day around and lead an exhausted momma’s heart to a place of peaceful rest. I woke up the next morning with renewed resolve to press on in the pursuit of goodness and gratitude for myself and for my family.

AN EYE FOR GOODNESS

I want us to be a family who seeks goodness, counts blessings, and gives thanks. I want my kids to cultivate an eye for goodness so that even in difficult seasons they can see the hand of our good God at work and truly “be thankful in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). So we have thoughtful discussions around the dinner table, we offer up prayers of thanksgiving during family worship, and we whisper questions at bedtime—What was good about your day? What amazing stuff did you see God do? And always, we make lists.

Sometimes it is in a fancy gratitude journal. Sometimes in a plain old notebook. We note the things we see that are good. We jot down blessings. We record all we are thankful for. We do this even when we don’t feel like it. We do this especially when we don’t feel like it.

Through this process of mining our memories for beautiful blessings and glimmers of goodness, we notice how our gaze shifts from the things of self to the goodness of God. In light of such goodness, we can’t help but “give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men” (Psalm 107:8, NKJ).

The season leading up to Thanksgiving, when thoughts tend to naturally turn towards gratitude, is an excellent time to establish the habit of regularly and intentionally seeking goodness. It is also a perfect time to engage the whole family in some creative goodness-seeking, blessing-counting, thanks-giving activities so that when Thanksgiving rolls around your heart will already be overflowing with thanks to the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17), the One who is Himself good (Psalm 118:1).

For Thanksgiving project ideas, check out this companion post.

Cultivating Gratitude: Five Thanksgiving Projects for your Family