Gratitude Out Loud: This Is What It Might Ignite in Your Life

Rain runs in rivers on the glass and days in a row the sun is masked and the sky dreary. Just like life can feel. Wearying. Less than what we envisioned back when that dream was alive as a fire crackling in a campfire ring. We sigh out loud and tuck our feet into house slippers and don fleece-lined yoga pants. Perhaps we’re looking for the gold lining to warm us on the inside.

So we scan gratitude challenge prompts, hesitantly hopeful that maybe it will be different this November. Maybe thankfulness can be more than temporary. More than a to-do. More than a test to see if we will actually finish.

Every year we’re hopeful starters. And every year we fizzle out mid-way through the month. Gratitude just hasn’t stuck.

But what if we’ve tried to keep gratitude too quiet? What if it gets buried in the lines of our journals? What if gratitude is looking for a way to ripple beyond us–spilling over like uncontained laughter?

Unforced and free.

Humble and holy.

Magnifying and multiplying.

Could we dare to whisper gratitude out loud? What might happen if we broke the silence by naming the gifts as we notice them?

What might happen if we broke the silence by naming the gifts as we notice them? (Twyla Franz gratitude quote)

A break in traffic to turn left.

Perfect pink grinning from the sky.

One last tea bag in the box.

An inhale of a scented candle.

Toasty-warm gloves.

Road construction wrapped up.

Red and orange in the trees.

A neighbor’s hello.

A new worship song.

And on the days God meets us in His word with tenderness or a timely promise:

What if we whispered thanks for His willingly-spilled, sin-attoning blood?

For “hope that leads us back behind the curtain to where God is” (Hebrews 6:11, The Voice)?

What might happen inside our very souls if we named Him Hero?

He Who Comes Through.

Leaves Nothing Out.

Never Misses a Detail.

Never Misplaces the Plan.

Author of Rest.

God of the Giant Soul-Exhale.

Holder of Our Head and Heart and Hand.

Imagine what might happen if we let the gravity of grace ignite our thanks, turn our reverence to worship, our sigh to song, our prayer to praise?

What Might Out Loud Gratitude Ignite?

Ponder with me what might shift if we audibly verbalized our gratitude? Even if no one but us were in the room? No one besides God with us in the car, the kitchen, the cubicle?

Perhaps the act itself of saying what we’re grateful for out loud changes something for us.

A quiet room is a safe place to practice breaking the silence with thanks. The more often we hear our own voices tell God that we receive as gift the big and small ways He blesses us, the easier it becomes. Practice saying aloud that God’s carried you, made a way for you, stayed with you as you walked through something hard–and it trains your brain to find Him when He’s hard to see.

The more often we hear our own voices tell God that we receive as gift the big and small ways He blesses us, the easier it becomes. (Twyla Franz quote)

And the everyday, NOT-insignificant gifts? Name them too. Say thank you in God’s ear.

He’s in the crisp air and crunch of leaves, the color of the sky and the breeze in your hair. He’s nearby in the smile that makes you feel seen, the nod to go first from another car, the chuckle you can’t contain.

He created the senses you use to inhale the aroma of hot cocoa, taste the marshmallows as they melt, hear the slirps of happy children, feel the spoon warm as you stir.

When we string together words of thanks–either on paper or out loud–our gratitude becomes more concrete. It means we don’t just feel thankful, we are thankful for specific gifts. It’s an exercise that helps us zero in on the gold in the gloom, the glory in the ordinary, the good in the unfolding.

But keep all your gratitude private and you stunt growth. Keep it locked inside your journal and you limit how it wants to explode.

When gratitude isn’t restrained, it spills organically into conversations and communities, igniting hope and gently turning attention toward God. Out loud gratitude opens us up to God and the people around us. It softens our tone and trains our tongue.

Out loud gratitude opens us up to God and the people around us. (Twyla Franz quote)

We won’t know this side of heaven everywhere our gratitude planted seeds, de-escalated anxiety, or opened up another lens for a friend. But we don’t have to know all that to trust that God can impact as He will through us.

We simply show up. Open up our lives, inch by inch, baby step by baby step, so the good, good work God is doing inside us can ripple out beyond us.

Your Mission This Week

The first step is to get comfortable saying thanks out loud.

So this week, can we try it? Even if no one else is around, let’s name our gratitude aloud.

You can use the prompts from the Spill-Over Gratitude Challenge in any order. Choose one a day, crossing them off as you go.

Still need the prompts? You can right-click the graphic below to save it to your device, or get a printable download (with a white background) HERE.

Also, if you are finding this (or listening to the podcast) and it’s not early November, please know you can take the challenge any time. Better yet, invite a few friends to join you!

Feel free to send, save, or pin the gratitude challenge prompts.