6 Nov - How One Simple Habit Can Change Your Life in 30 Days

Part 1: The Gratitude Experiment

I recently heard about someone who decided to intentionally focus on gratitude for a year. Not just think it - but write it down. Every day. Some days the list was short like being grateul for “coffee,” “sunlight,” “a good sleep.” But within weeks, they noticed something happening to their relationships, their energy levels, mood, they were having better sleep, new opportunities started to come their way and they felt more peace.

Learning to Notice the Small Things

In one of my older blogs, Finding Joy in the Small Things, I wrote about this concept of gratitude and how the simple practice of pausing and speaking out ten things I’m thankful for out loud.

Not just the big wins, but the ordinary ones too: a good cuppa, getting to the bottom of the washing basket on a good drying day, the laughter of my kids, a beautiful sunset, getting an easy parking spot, a win at work, the smell of bread baking - Yum - The little things.

That’s the power of gratitude Itpulls you out of autopilot and helps you to see how much beauty and wonder God had already woven into your day. That God’s goodness isn’t something you have to search far to find - it’s often sitting right in front of you, waiting to be noticed.

Science even proves it. Harvard researchers found that writing down three things you’re grateful for every day for aa month actually rewires your brain to look for positives instead of problems.

You don't need a different life necessarily, but rather a different prespective. Gratitude will change how you see your situaiton, and when that happens it starts to shift your heart, and when your heart changes, everything begins to change.

It’s not happy people who are grateful; it’s grateful people who are happy.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us practicing gratitude is God’s will — “Give thanks in all circumstances.” Gratitude doesn’t just shift your perspective; it pulls you closer to His presence.

Psalm 100:4 says,“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” Gratitude is one of the ways we can experience and come into God's presence — it's like a gateway.

When you start your day with thanksgiving, you open the gate wide for His presence and His peace and joy to flow in.

💭 Action Steps

1. Start your own gratitude experiment: write 3 - 5 things daily for 21 days.

2. Replace complaints with “thank You” moments.

3. Write it down - it’s the writing that makes it real.

   
   

💬 Think and Say

“I choose gratitude, even before I see the breakthrough.”

📖 Verses

• “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

  
  

• “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” — Psalm 100:4 (ESV)

  
  

🙏 Prayer

Lord, thank You for all the little moments that make my day brighter. Please help me not to overlook them but to always be grateful. Thank You for the small reminders that You’re near- a morning cuppa, the sunlight, the laughter and all the people and things around me that I can be thankful for. Please help me see Your hand in the ordinary and find peace and more joy in Your presence. In Jesus' name Amen.