How to Practice Gratitude in Everyday Life
Rend Collective shares 4 simple habits for a grateful heart
Gratitude is easy to say and harder to practice. We mean to give thanks, and then the dishes pile up, the days blur together, and the moment slips away. So what does Rend Collective actually do to stay grateful?
For Jonathan Chu, gratitude often starts with friends, “after tours or during tours, decompressing just through conversations.”
Moments That Give You Hope
“It seems like the same thing every day,” Jonathan says. “But today there’s highlighting those moments of, I get to meet this person, or I get to encourage this person after the show or during intermission.”
“Even though sometimes tour life is a little isolating,” he says, “…you find these moments that kind of give you hope in those, and it just makes you grateful.”
Those moments put his work in perspective. “It makes me grateful for what I get to do,” he says, “and know that it’s not just playing a song or playing a thing or doing a thing, but it transfers outside of that [into] regular life.”
“I Had a Meal to Eat”
That includes the days when, as Jonathan puts it, he’s “feeling like just the mundane everyday life, doing the chores and stuff like that.” In those moments, he’s “reminded of a book:” The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk who worked in a monastery kitchen and learned to meet God among the pots and pans.
The book reminds Jonathan “that even in the moment of the chore, we are to be grateful,” and “to use that aspect of life as worship, and do that for the glory of Him.”
He learned the same lesson at home. “My grandmother used to say that if I’m cleaning a dish, that means I had a meal to eat that day,” Jonathan says.
Paul wrote, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17 NIV). Whatever you do includes the dishes. Every chore can become an offering, and Jesus Himself carries our thanks to the Father.
Always on the Lookout
Chris Llewellyn calls a gratitude journal “an amazing practice for training your brain to actually notice those things that are going right.”
“If you write down five things in the morning that you’re grateful for, it’s actually amazing what that does for you,” Chris says, “particularly if you don’t allow yourself to repeat every day. It forces your brain into a position where you’re looking out for some blessing in your life all the time. You’re always on the lookout because you [know] that journal appointment’s coming up the next day.”
“At my worst seasons,” he adds, “that daily practice has been incredibly helpful.”
David prayed, “Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2 NIV). He knew how quickly we forget. Writing it down helps us remember, and over time the Holy Spirit trains our eyes to see God’s kindness before we even reach for the pen.
Take a Breath
For Stephen Mitchell, gratitude shows up right before the band walks onstage. Every day brings what he calls “ups and downs and lows.” Whether the band feels it or not, he says, it “doesn’t really matter.”
Imbed image
“We always try and take a second right before we play to take a breath and be grateful for the ones who came and be grateful for the fact that we’re out here,” Stephen says, “living our dream by music and getting [to] worship with people and lead people in worship.”
“We haven’t always done that over our careers, but we’ve been really intentional about [it],” he admits. “And it’s just to take a second before we play. Always be grateful for everything that’s good.”
Gratitude is easy to say and harder to practice.
Paul gave the same charge. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NIV). Gratitude is a choice we make in faith. Thanks comes first, and the feelings often follow.
A Grateful Heart, Right Where You Are
Your stage might be a kitchen counter, a carpool line, or a hospital waiting room. Wherever you are, you can stop, take a breath, and name one good gift from your Father. Choose one practice this week (the dish, the journal, or the pause) and watch Him open your eyes to His goodness in the middle of your everyday life.
Want to go deeper?
A Grateful Life: Thanks in the Hard Places — A 14-Day YouVersion Devotional
Discover a thankfulness that holds steady on the full days and the empty ones, aimed at God Himself and offered even before the answer comes. Each day brings a scripture focus, a short reading, a truth to declare, reflection questions, and a prayer to help gratitude become the way you live.