An Invitation to you…
An Invitation for You:
Some seasons, the good is easy to find. After all, it’s sitting right in plain sight: the healthy baby, the financial provision, the house full of laughter. Other seasons, you have to go looking for it because you can’t see it through the diagnosis, the loss, the fractured relationship. I have lived through both kinds of seasons. In fact, I feel like I am living through both kinds right now, depending on the day. The moment. And, really. Isn’t this true for most of us?
Sometimes joy is so big that it marks you and everything you experience has a special glow about it. First love. Restoration. A dream come true. And, sometimes there are big enough troubles that they mark every single thing with the shadow of grief. A divorce. The death of a loved one. Those things that cause us a kind of grief that changes us.
But, life is usually pretty complicated. And, quite often, maybe even most often—seasons are mixed—containing both good and bad.
One thing that I have learned, though, is that no matter what the season: the good was there. (Yes, even in the midst of the really hard ones!) I only needed to adjust my eyes so I could see it.
That’s what this month is about. Not pretending everything is fine. Not slapping a cheerful sticker over real grief. Just training our eyes, one day at a time, to find the good that God has already placed in our path.
For the next 30 days, I want to invite you to go looking with me.
Gratitude is not just a feeling. It’s a practice.
When good things happen, gratitude wells up inside of us naturally. I have had so many moments when I have been overwhelmed by the Lord’s goodness to me. Sometimes it is in the midst of a miracle. Sometimes it is in a perfect moment—my family healthy, happy, together. But, also? I have had many moments like this in the midst of a battle too.
For example, I have eight children, so people are often surprised to hear that having children was not always easy for me. Each pregnancy was a high risk pregnancy. I had many miscarriages. There were some scary complications. There was deep grief and unanswered questions. Yet, when I look back, do you know what I remember most? God’s prevailing goodness. I began the process having to choose thankfulness even when I didn’t feel it. I started out having to make the choice to trust the Lord, to worship Him, even when my emotions were leading me someplace else. And something amazing happened as I did. My heart changed. It softened and healed. And, so did my eyes. They began to see the good without even having to try.
Over and over, God’s people are commanded to give thanks, to remember, to bless, to recount. You can’t command a feeling. You can command a practice. Then the actions lead to the feelings.
Paul writes from a prison cell, of all places, and tells the church at Philippi what to set their minds on:
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
The Greek word translated think is logizomai. It’s an accounting word. It means to reckon, to calculate, to take inventory. Paul isn’t telling us to have a vague warm thought about nice things. He’s telling us to count. To keep the books. To sit down with a pencil and actually tally up what is true and lovely and praiseworthy in our lives.
That’s my invitation to you. Will you join me in counting this month?
What the words teach us
The Bible’s language for gratitude is richer than our English word “thanks” can carry. Three words in particular have shaped how I think about this challenge.
Todah (Hebrew) is the word for thanksgiving, and it comes from the root yadah, which carries the picture of extending or lifting the hands.
In the Psalms, todah is often an offering: a sacrifice of thanksgiving brought to the temple. But here’s what I love. The same root is also used for confession, for openly acknowledging what is true. Biblical thanksgiving is a public declaration: This is what God has done, and I won’t keep it to myself. Gratitude in the Hebrew imagination is never just private. It’s testimony.
Tov (Hebrew) is the word for good, and it’s the first evaluation God speaks over creation. “And God saw that it was good.” Seven times in Genesis 1, God steps back and names the good. Before we ever learned to find fault, we were made in the image of a God who stops to notice what is good and says so out loud. When we name the good, we are imitating our Father.
Eucharisteo (Greek) is the New Testament word for giving thanks. Tucked inside it is charis, which means grace, and chara, its close cousin, which means joy. Grace, thanksgiving, and joy live in the same family of words. This is the word Jesus used when he took the bread on the night he was betrayed and gave thanks. On the darkest night of his earthly life, he found something to give thanks for. That is our model.
Why 30 days?
Because it takes time to retrain our eyes.
Most of us have spent years practicing the opposite: scanning for what’s wrong, what’s missing, what still needs to be done. As mothers and wives and women who carry a lot, we are very good at spotting the crumbs on the floor and the unfinished chore chart. That vigilance serves us in some ways. But left unchecked, it becomes the only lens we see through.
Thirty days is long enough to build a new habit and short enough to start today. It also fits November beautifully: one prompt for every day of the month, ending right as we move from Thanksgiving into Advent.
The psalmist said it this way: “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13). Notice where he expected to see God’s goodness: not someday in heaven, but here, in the land of the living. In your kitchen. At work. In our church. In your ordinary Tuesday.
How the challenge works
It’s simple on purpose. You don’t need a fancy planner or an hour of quiet. You need about five minutes and something to write with.
- Read the day’s prompt. Each day has a short question to point your attention somewhere specific.
- Write down three good things. Be specific. “My family” is lovely, but “the way my 8-year-old sang while she did her math” is better. Specificity is what trains the eye.
- Name the Giver. End with one sentence of thanks addressed to God. This is what turns noticing into worship.
- Share (optional). Tell someone at dinner, text a friend, or post it with the hashtag. Remember todah: thanksgiving was always meant to be spoken out loud.
I’ve made a printable journal page to go with this challenge. Print one for each day, or print a stack and keep them in a folder on the kitchen counter. Let your kids join in. These will help train your eyes and just may become a treasured keepsake in the days to come.
The four weeks
The prompts move through four themes, plus two bonus days to close the month.
- Week 1 (Days 1-7): Eyes to See. Noticing the good in your everyday surroundings.
- Week 2 (Days 8-14): The People God Gave Me. Finding the good in the relationships around you.
- Week 3 (Days 15-21): Good in the Hard Places. Looking for grace in the places that hurt.
- Week 4 (Days 22-28): Remembering His Faithfulness. Building a record of what God has done.
- Days 29-30: Carrying It Forward. Taking the habit with you into the next season.
The 30 daily prompts
| Day | Theme | Prompt |
| 1 | Eyes to See | What is one thing in your home today that you would miss if it were gone? |
| 2 | Eyes to See | What did you see outside today that showed you God’s creativity? |
| 3 | Eyes to See | What meal, taste, or smell made you grateful today? |
| 4 | Eyes to See | What sound in your home would you want to remember twenty years from now? |
| 5 | Eyes to See | What ordinary task today was actually a gift in disguise? |
| 6 | Eyes to See | Where did you find a moment of rest or quiet today? |
| 7 | Eyes to See | What is something you appreciate about the body gave you? |
| 8 | The People God Gave Me | What is one quality in a friend or family member that you admire but rarely mention? |
| 9 | The People God Gave Me | What did someone do today that made you smile? |
| 10 | The People God Gave Me | Who taught you something about faith when you were young? |
| 11 | The People God Gave Me | Who showed up for you in a hard season, and what did they do? |
| 12 | The People God Gave Me | What is one good thing about someone who is difficult for you to love? |
| 13 | The People God Gave Me | Who in your church or community serves quietly without being noticed? |
| 14 | The People God Gave Me | Write a short thank-you note to someone today. Who did you choose, and why? |
| 15 | Good in the Hard Places | What is a challenge you’re facing right now? Name one good thing hiding inside it. |
| 16 | Good in the Hard Places | What is something you prayed for that God answered differently than you asked? |
| 17 | Good in the Hard Places | What has a past disappointment taught you? |
| 18 | Good in the Hard Places | Where did you see God’s provision this week, even in something small? |
| 19 | Good in the Hard Places | What is one thing that went wrong today, and what grace showed up anyway? |
| 20 | Good in the Hard Places | Which verse has carried you through a difficult time? |
| 21 | Good in the Hard Places | What weakness of yours has God used to help someone else? |
| 22 | Remembering His Faithfulness | What is your earliest memory of knowing God was real? |
| 23 | Remembering His Faithfulness | Name a specific prayer God answered in the last year. |
| 24 | Remembering His Faithfulness | What is one way God provided for you and/or your family that you’ll never forget? |
| 25 | Remembering His Faithfulness | Which season of your life looks different now that you see it from the other side? |
| 26 | Remembering His Faithfulness | What has God done in your marriage /family/ life that only He could do? |
| 27 | Remembering His Faithfulness | Which attribute of God are you most grateful for this month? |
| 28 | Remembering His Faithfulness | If you set up a “standing stone” for this year, what would it mark? |
| 29 | Carrying It Forward | Read back through your entries. What surprised you? |
| 30 | Carrying It Forward | What is one gratitude habit you want to keep going after this month? |
A word for the hard days
There will be days you sit down to write and can’t find three things. I want you to hear me: that’s okay. That’s actually the point.
On those days, write one. Write “I’m still breathing.” Write “The coffee was hot.” Write “His mercies are new every morning, even when I can’t feel them” (see Lamentations 3:22-23). Jeremiah wrote those words while sitting in the ashes of Jerusalem. He wasn’t grateful because life was good. He was grateful because God was good, and he chose to remember it.
Gratitude isn’t denial. It’s defiance. It’s looking straight at the hard thing and declaring, “And yet, God.”
Will you join me?
Starting November 1, I’ll be doing this. I’ll be sharing some of my own entries along the way and I’d love to see yours. But, its okay to keep it private too. Either way, print your journal page, grab a pen, and let’s go!
The good is there. Let’s find it together.
With love,
PN
Psalm 103: 2 ”Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits.”