Express your thanks in the world around you

By Heidi Goehmann, LCSW, deaconess

Gratitude can feel both hard and easy, depending on the season.

Circumstances change for the better and for the worse. Bodies also become limited in their ways, waiting and aching (quite literally) for God’s restoration and new creation. We are not all-powerful as humans, nor are we powerless or left only to our own devices.

When the apostle Paul said that he felt “content in whatever circumstances” (Philippians 4:11 NIV), even in jail and loneliness and hunger and degradation, I don’t know that he got there by simply willing it into being. Paul was a writer. Sometimes, like Lin-Manuel Miranda suggests about Alexander Hamilton in the hit musical “Hamilton,” I wonder how often Paul “wrote his way out.”

Writing, whether on a page, in the air, or on our hearts, is one way we activate the neural pathways in our brain to integrate gratitude into our lives for well-being, rather than expecting ourselves to jump when gratitude calls.

A study from UCLA identified practicing gratitude for 15 minutes a day for six weeks actively shifted neural pathways to more easily find gratitude in the day to day. Fifteen minutes feels like a long time when your body is aching or your heart is broken or life takes energy, as it will. Instead, I like to start smaller—tiny gratitudes moving outward to touch the edges of the universe and God’s arms wrapped all around it.

Consider the context of Paul’s contentment in Philippians 4:10-14 (not only verse 11):

“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles” (NIV).

Renewed concern and sharing troubles are the good stuff of relationship. Many of us have people in our lives who show up for us in different ways that help us see gratitude when we are struggling. More powerful than those relationships, and when relationships fail or loneliness seeps in, we are buoyed up by God’s concern. God shares every trouble, encountered trouble in this earth, knows trouble, and has a heart for our troubles large and small.

Sometimes, we need ways to experience connection in order to find our sense of contentment and gratitude, that tiny voice of the Spirit inside of us that promises “We’re going to make it.”

Try this exercise:

Begin with something inside you. Put your hand on your heart. “Thank You, Lord for my heart which beats without my directing it. That must be You, Lord. Or notice the breath in your lungs. Thank You, Lord for Your breath of life. As my breath has moved and continues to move in and out, that must be You, Lord.”

Move to something immediately around you. Reach out and touch something that serves you well, has a glint of light, or strikes your eye. “Thank You, Lord for the stuff of life, the things that need to be dusted or do the work of the day. That must be You, Lord.”

Move to something outside your current walls. “Lord, the activity and change, decay and life around me are evident. I notice this single aspect of the world and community out there. You are the connector and Creator. That must be You, Lord.”

Look to something on the planet Earth or the universe itself. “Lord, the sun, moon, and stars, mountains and valleys, across cultures, to the edges of time and space, all things are held by You. That must be You, Lord.”

Start by noticing these things, then move to write them down each day. If you cannot or would prefer not to physically write, utilize a finger to write the name of the items in the air or imagine writing it in front of you or on your heart.

Whatever season this life finds you in, God is steadfast, and God is faithful. Sometimes, we just need to see it, hear it, and write it, like the apostles and saints before us.

Writer, licensed clinical social worker, and theologian, Heidi Goehmann produces resources that advocate for mental health and genuine relationships. Learn more at heidigoehmann.com.