Gratitude is crucial to my life and faith, but it hasn’t always been that way. It took me a long time to recognize what genuine gratitude is, and as I’ve done that, my gratitude practice has taken many forms.

A few years ago, I had a gratitude journal listing three things I was grateful for each day. This helped me embrace a posture of gratitude and direct that gratitude to the Lord, but after almost two years, I felt it wasn’t enough.

I’ve also had this really sweet practice with a close friend where at the end of each day, we share what our highlight was. Sometimes the highlights are “big,” like traveling, launching a professional Instagram page, or going to a concert. Other times they are “small,” like the moment we choose to stay in quiet time a little longer, give ourselves grace, intentionally pause and breathe, or allow ourselves to share something vulnerable with someone.

Those “smaller” moments are my favorite because while they don’t seem to fit the traditional mold of what a highlight is, those moments are the ones worth highlighting. It is a culmination of moments like those that not only show the ways we’ve grown but also allow us to be grateful for things that don’t always feel like gifts. It’s in those moments the fruit of gratitude feels ripe.

The things I’m still waiting for

The gratitude journal helped me to be grateful for the things I had, and the highlight practice has helped me access gratitude for the things that have happened during my day, but where I struggled for a long time was to be grateful for the things I don’t have yet. 

I have a lot of experience in waiting seasons. I bet you do too. Waiting to buy a home, get a new job, get married, have children . . . I could think of a million things we collectively wait for in life. Everyone always talks about how waiting seasons have a purpose (way easier to say when you’re not in one, though!). I believed that was true, but it was hard not to be defeated when those things weren’t happening. I spent a lot of time wondering what I was supposed to do during the waiting. Then it hit me.  I can be grateful. 

It’s easy to be grateful for tangible things or experiences, but those will never truly fulfill me. The way Jesus sweetly meets me in the middle ground, between where I am and the future I want, THAT is worth being grateful for. I’m grateful for the here and now while praying for the not-quite-yet parts of life. I can lean on His promises and His character and trust that my future is a good one! And yet I don’t have to wait til the future to experience His goodness.

A game-changer in the middle of waiting

I created a prayer shelf to demonstrate my gratitude and remind me to keep humbly taking a grateful posture. On it, I have placed a small token to represent the things I am believing God for. I need that visual reminder every day. The shelf contains a mug that says “new home, new adventures” because I believe home ownership is in my future. The shelf also contains something small to represent the marriage I’m believing for, the kids I’m believing for, the published book I’m believing for, the allergy I’m believing healing for, and a few other items that represent prayers God has already answered!

Each day when I look at this shelf, I thank the Lord for the things I don’t have yet, the things He has already done, and the ways He is meeting me in the middle. 

God has used this simple shelf to transform my perspective. In the waiting, I am grateful that His timing is perfect (Habakkuk 2:3). I am grateful that He withholds no good thing from me (Psalm 84:11). I am grateful that He is a good father who loves me (1 John 3:1). I am grateful for the prayers He has answered, and that those answered prayers remind me that He is faithful to keep answering! Gratitude is a gift that transforms my worry to praise and my uncertainty into confidence. I may not know what comes next, but I know the Author of my life. 

What would it look like for you to say “thank you” in advance today? To believe that God is who He says He is and loves you as deeply as He says He does, and to stand on His promises with gratitude? Gratitude for what He’s already done. Gratitude for what He is doing right now. And gratitude for all that is to come. 

Meet Megan Carlton

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Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.

If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.

Creating Ripples

If you would like to cultivate rhythms in addition to gratitude that will empower you live on mission in your neighborhood, check out Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. This small book will help you make a big impact in your neighborhood as you learn to let missional living flow from the inside out. Get the 30-day missional living challenge free when you purchase the book.