thankful!
'Tis the season of thankfulness! In honor of Thanksgiving this week, I thought it’d be a great time to do some reflection on gratitude. Cheesy, I know, but still so good and important to do.
Maybe after you finish reading this blog post, you can go write out a list of what you’re thankful for too :)
To kick it off, here’s some of what I am thankful for this 2025 Thanksgiving season:
My relationship with God–His love & saving grace
My family (duh. that’s always top of the list)
My best friends–scattered across the coast but close in my heart!
California weather/climate (it’s just so stinkin' beautiful here, and I love it so much)
Our puppies! Maple & Marlee are the sweetest
My education at Chapman–the 4-year experience I had there
My job
My health–my body’s ability to run, dance, and function as God designed it to
The dance studio I’ve been taking classes at this year
The travel opportunities I’ve had this year (Italy, Germany, Denmark, Texas, Illinois, and spots around CA)
Seasons and change–literal and metaphorical
Creativity–having art as a way to express myself
GPS–I’d be so lost without it, it’s not even funny
Disney
This blog!!
Obviously, this list could be quite literally never-ending. When I think long enough, the things I’m genuinely so thankful for become as small as having clean air to breathe. And when I’m chuggin' along that thought train, I’m astounded at how God provides. Because every single thing on that list, including the ones unwritten, comes from Him.
I won’t do it here because, well, no need for you to read on and on and on–but I totally recommend making your own list and letting it go as long as possible. Write out every little thing you’re thankful for. ALL OF IT. The big things, like the roof over your head, and the small things, like the accessible grocery store 5 minutes from your house.
Here’s an example of a journal entry I made a while back when I was overwhelmed with gratitude for God’s love.
Creator of All,
I’d like to lay my gratitude at your feet. So I cleared the space, tied back my hair, lit a candle, turned on soft piano, and put pen to paper to remind my beautiful mind of your love. Because it cures all, gives joy in darkness, and, as I need right now, gives perspective.
So Lord, a sweet love note from me to you. The only thing I can offer you of value and worth—my heart, my thoughts, my thanksgiving—placed in your hands.
I’m so thankful for you. Why? Where to begin? For the inspiration and creativity you sprinkle like pixie dust on my heart, for the canvas of beauty I walk outside to see—blue skies, green grass, and tall trees. For the breath in my lungs that inhales your presence and exhales a gentle YHWH.
For water, which serves as the elixir of life, its sounds are a salve to the soul. For oceans, springs, rivers, and lakes that are echoes of your glory and the peace you offer when we let our lungs rise and fall to the melody of the tides. For complexity and intricacy and vastness and grandness that I will never fully comprehend.
For crafting the human eye to see more shades of green than any other color so that it’s more than leaves, blades of grass, branches, and vines, more than rolling hills, orchards, vineyards, or fields, but an expression of love, an accent of your beauty, a drop of your blessing… a perhaps little thing that you did so that you could look down from Heaven and watch me grin as my eyes light up at the landscape before me. For the details, the itty bitty notes you wrote in your design for creation. The dots on a ladybug’s back, the veins of a single leaf, the anatomy of a cell, each grain of sand, and each freckle that decorates my skin.
Not a single detail, single human, single moment, second, or blink exists without your knowledge and presence. For the small ways you delight me, through a comment from a friend or a compliment from a stranger. For creating us to change and evolve, because without growth, what would be the point? For giving us a vast language and hundreds of adjectives to describe in detail what we see, smell, hear, taste, and feel. For each little nerve on our bodies that you crafted with precision to catalyze pain, awareness, or pleasure. For each person you so delicately placed in different moments, chapters, and seasons of my life—not a single one by mere happenstance or coincidence or accident—but with intention, purpose, and a plan, like you do with all things. For the double-edged sword of free will, giving us a choice to do with our lives as we may but always at the cost of our limited understanding.
For the way, music inspires me to move, and how my mind dances each time, I hear a tune. For your patience and kind spirit that never gives up or walks away. For your character. Too lovely to fully describe and too vast to fully encompass. For the ways you reveal yourself, oh, so gently and slowly, for the full majesty of your present existence would be more than we could bear—more than we could survive.
I read this love note over, and I feel as though I’ve yet to say anything at all. There are so many reasons to to be thankful for you that every paper in every journal in the world would not contain enough space to measure up all you are and all you do for one purpose… love. That try as my mind might, I cannot encompass the sum of your worthiness.
And with that, watching the flame of my candle flicker, I’m lost in thought over you. My mind is racing from every glorious gift I can imagine that you so generously give… Every. Single. Day. And amid the newness of each blessing you bestow, I’m reminded of what I think to be one of the most comforting things about you, one of your character traits I love and admire the most. That no matter how many times the sun rises and sets or how many things in this life change, you… never… do. You, high King of Kings, are the same. Always.
I sigh a heavy exhale of relief when I remember your consistency. With this one piece of your character, I can acknowledge all that I do not understand yet still know for certain that the following is true. You were the same yesterday. You are the same today. You will be the same tomorrow. For this reason, I cling to you, the only steadfast part of my life. What a gift it is to stand on a rock when all else is sinking sand.
I love you, Lord Jesus, more than the words on these pages express. A little love note from me to you. An echo, a reply, a response to my small understanding of your unconditional, powerful, captivating, strong, beautiful love. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for being perfectly as you are and loving me so.
Exercises like this one are good perspective shifters. Deep down, you might know you’re incredibly blessed. But there’s something about the visual of seeing it listed out. Seeing the quantity of things to be grateful for reminds you that there’s more good in your life to acknowledge.
I think I can speak for all of us when I say we’re quite forgetful. Even just a day later, we let the memories of yesterday’s blessings fade away. We forget the answered prayers and focus on the unanswered ones. We forget the dreams we’ve already lived and focus on the unlived ones. We grumble at the red lights instead of thanking God for the green ones.
It takes conscious effort to remember our blessings. And when we do, we experience joy, hope, and peace.
Practicing a heart of gratitude also reminds us of our dependence on God. That parking spot that opened up right in front of you in a sea of holiday shoppers? The FIVE green lights you just drove through without having to stop? The sun that popped out from behind the clouds, right when you walked outside? All little blessings from God. All little moments where you can experience gratitude, thanking God for the smallest of things. Because no, I don’t think even the sound of the birds chirping as you walk to your car is too small a thing to whisper a little “thank you” for.
Gratitude brings us into the present. It opens our eyes to what is happening right here, right now. In some ways, worry acts as the opposite. It pulls us out of the present to think about the possible fears of the future. It highlights the negatives instead of the positives. The things we don’t have rather than what we do have. The things that could go wrong, rather than the things that could go right.
When I feel stress creeping into my shoulders, this is one of the ways I ground myself. I intentionally take a look around and start rattling off a list of things I’m thankful for.
The trees changing colors.
The temperature of the crisp air beginning to drop.
My car.
The seat warmers in my car.
The lunch I packed for work today.
The Christmas decorations at my desk.
The trees wrapped in lights.
The music playing in the store.
And on, and on, and on.
To quote one of my favorite Christmas movies, "When I'm worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep, And I fall asleep counting my blessings."
Of course, the origin of Thanksgiving as a US holiday began with our country’s history. But for the purposes of today and what’s most important, I think it's a wonderful reminder to simply be thankful.
Maybe in the same way you go around the Thanksgiving Day table to share what you’re thankful for, you can bring gratitude into your everyday life.
Perhaps the next time something seemingly small makes you smile, you’ll thank God for it instead of letting the moment pass by.
I’m thankful for you being here, reading with me, and visiting the Sweet Spot. I hope your Thanksgiving is extra special and spent with loved ones.
Remember, you are loved by God, wonderfully made, and beautifully you. Don’t let someone else’s voice speak louder than what’s true.
Until next time…
hugs,
Kylie
