Show Notes
In this episode of Peaceable and Kind, Derek Vreeland explores gratitude not as a fleeting emotion or polite social gesture, but as a way of being in the world that opens us to the presence and goodness of God.
As Thanksgiving approaches, Derek invites listeners to move beyond a once-a-year holiday mindset and cultivate an ongoing “attitude of gratitude.” Drawing from Scripture, church history, and his own life, including a story about running his first half marathon, he shows how gratitude changes not our circumstances, but changes how we see God in the midst of our circumstances.
Derek reflects on the wisdom of writers like Ann Voskamp, Henri Nouwen, and Brother Lawrence, alongside the biblical stories of the ten lepers in Luke 17 and Paul’s exhortation to “give thanks in all circumstances.” Through these voices, he reveals how gratitude shifts our focus from scarcity to abundance, from anxiety to trust, and from performance to presence.
At the heart of Christian worship is thanksgiving, the rhythm of receiving grace, giving thanks, and sharing the gift. We see this in the practice of holy communion.
Key Takeaways
Gratitude is more than good manners. It’s a spiritual posture that shapes how we see the world.
We give thanks in all circumstances, not for all circumstances.
Gratitude is the surest way to spiritual life, grounding us in the present moment where God is always at work.
Holy Communion (or Eucharist) reminds us that thanksgiving stands at the center of Christian worship.
Practicing gratitude transforms complaint into wonder and scarcity into abundance.
Four Simple Ways to Practice Gratitude
Look for small gifts: Notice the simple, daily graces: breath, light, presence.
Begin your prayers with thanksgiving: Gratitude opens your heart before you ask for anything.
Express gratitude aloud: Tell someone, “I’m thankful for you.” Spoken gratitude multiplies joy.
End your day with reflection: Ask, “Where did I experience God’s grace today?” Let thanksgiving close your day.
Scriptures mentioned in this episode: Luke 17:11–19 Colossians 4:2 (MSG) 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Books mentioned in this episode:One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
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Transcript
Narrator: Welcome back To another episode of Peaceable and Kind. I am your host as always, Derek Vreeland, and I’m looking forward to this episode. But before we jump in, let me encourage you to leave a rating. And a review, subscribe, wherever you’re listening to this podcast, you know, do all the things. It really does help people find this podcast. and join this growing community of Christians who are trying to live faithful to the ways of Jesus, living a peaceable and kind life. Today I want to talk about gratitude. Specifically, I want to talk about cultivating an attitude of gratitude. I don’t want to talk so much about the biblical or theological foundations of gratitude, but the practice of gratitude that forms within us a certain spirit. Next Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the U. S. And my plans for Thanksgiving are simple I do what I do every Thanksgiving, and that is I give thanks to God on that day. I will eat turkey at some point. I will watch football, and my beloved Kansas City Chiefs are playing the Dallas Cowboys. I’ll watch football even before the Chiefs game, and at some point I will fall asleep watching football. This is my tradition every Thanksgiving. And so that’s what I have planned for next week. And I want to help you get ready for Thanksgiving by developing this spirit, this attitude of gratitude. And so when I’m talking about gratitude, I’m not thinking about just being polite, being nice. I’m not talking about the surface level gratitude. That shows up in thank you cards. But I’m thinking today of gratitude as a spiritual practice, gratitude as a way of being in the world. Gratitude for Christians is a way of focusing on the goodness of God And cynicism is on the rise in our culture. And I understand that there’s a lot that’s not right. But gratitude is this spiritual practice where we don’t hide ourselves from everything that’s wrong. but rather it’s an intentional focus on the goodness and the grace of God. Anne Voskamp, in her twenty eleven book One Thousand Gifts, has this important little snippet about gratitude. She writes, gratitude isn’t only a celebration when good things happen Gratitude’s a declaration that God is good no matter what happens. And that really is true, but that is a difficult truth. It is easy to fall into the trap of cynicism and complaining and despair. Losing sight of what we believe to be very true about God, and that is God is good, and God is weaving his goodness throughout God’s broken world. Now God created this world. He created human beings to reflect his image, and God has called us to live together and And so I understand that some things are broken in God’s good world, but there is a spiritual practice A attitude of gratitude that helps us focus on the goodness of God. And the more I practice gratitude, the more I realize It’s not about being thankful for everything that happens, because again, I want to acknowledge bad things do indeed happen, even to good people. Evil things happen. Not everything is going well, but gratitude is about learning to see God’s grace in everything So I don’t give God thanks for everything because again, some things are really, really bad. But this spiritual practice of gratitude, it’s a way of seeing. It’s a way of seeing God at work through good times and bad times. And so gratitude is a little bit transformative It shifts our focus from scarcity, oh, there’s there’s just not enough, to abundance. That is God’s abundance. It’s a shift from simply complaining and becoming cynical to awe and wonder. And ultimately, it is a transformation from anxiety and fear to faith and trust. And so I want you to begin to see that gratitude is a way forward It is a way of planting seeds of peaceableness and kindness in our lives, in our neighborhoods, and in the world. Back in 2013, I was 39 years old, and I ran my first half marathon. I had started running a few years earlier, probably 2009, 2010. I began jogging a couple days a week. I I just wanted to get back in shape. I felt like I hadn’t really been focused on my health and so I started jogging and and ran a couple of five Ks And my brother Jeff had done a count to 5K program, had really gotten into shape, and he had ran a half marathon. And he told me, he said, if you will register for a half marathon somewhere in the Kansas City area, I will come up and run it with you. And so I was nervous about it because in high school I was a sprinter. I had played basketball a little bit as an adult with a bunch of guys, but then for years I had done nothing until I started jogging a little bit, but I was running three, four miles max. Now a half marathon is 13. 1 miles. 13 plus miles. That’s double digits. And I thought, how in the world am I gonna go from running three, four miles to running thirteen miles? But I found a training program. I committed to it. And in November of 2013, I, along with my brother, ran the Pilgrim Pacer. It was a half marathon that was held at the Shawnee Mission Park. This is just outside of Overlin Park, which is a Kansas City suburb over on the Kansas side. And I remember that morning because it’s November and it was crisp and cool, but the sun was shining. It really was a perfect day for running. And this race was an out and back, which meant we were going to run 6. 55 miles, and then there was a designated turnaround, and then run 6. 55 miles back. for a total of 13. 1. And it was a beautiful day running along Shawnee Mission Lake. And we started the race actually running downhill. And I didn’t realize, oh, this is an out and back. This downhill at the start meant an uphill for the finish. But we made our way through the course. I remember talking to a guy who was a marathon runner. And I told him this is my first half marathon. So we’re just chatting a little bit. Neither of us were running very fast, we just were enjoying the race. I made the turnaround and while I was coming back There was a brief moment where I was really overwhelmed with gratitude The sun was beginning to peek through some of the trees. The cool air was keeping my body cool, but the leaves were changing and they were beautiful. The sky was blue and beautiful. And for a minute I just I just felt so grateful. I felt grateful to be alive. I felt grateful to be healthy enough to run this race, to to be out there running. I felt so grateful for the gift of that day. And it was a combination of how I was feeling. It was a combination of just the beauty of the moment. Now I felt grateful until the last two miles, which a lot of that was uphill. It was a really, really difficult finish And at the finish line, they served pumpkin pie because it was, you know, near Thanksgiving. It was in November. And I finished and got my pumpkin pie. And my brother Jeff, he finished. He got his pie, he took one bite, and he said, I can’t eat this. I ended up eating my slice of pie and his and and celebrating that we had finished, that we had completed. And for me It was completing my first half marathon. Now, since 2013, I’ve ran, I don’t know, eight, nine, ten different half marathons, and I still enjoy them. But I will always remember that first half marathon race. And I will always remember that that moment of gratitude. Because it it did something in me. It gave me a love for running and running longer distances. But this is what gratitude does. Gratitude doesn’t change where you are. It doesn’t change your situation or circumstances, but it changes how you see things, how you see where you are. There’s a story in the Gospels that I love so much in Luke chapter 17, and this is where Jesus is healing the ten lepers. And so in Luke 17, verses 11 through 19, you see this attitude of gratitude at work. There were ten lepers and they were crying out to Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And remember throughout the Gospels, the request, the cry for mercy is a cry for help. And the help that they needed was healing. So Jesus sent them to show themselves to the priest, and as they’re going to the priest, all ten of them are miraculously healed of their leprosy. But only one of them, just one, came back to Jesus to say thank you And Luke tells us that the one leper who was healed, who came back, was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner. Now, when we hear the word Samaritan, we often think of the good Samaritan. But in the world of Jesus in that first century Jewish world. The Samaritans were the bad guys. They were half Jewish, half pagan, and so there really was racial tension. between Jews and Samaritans. Samaritans were not the good guys. The Samaritans were the bad guys. But in Luke’s gospel we’re told that this one Samaritan, who was supposed to be the bad guy, does something really good. He comes back to Jesus. He prostrates himself as an act of humility and worship before Jesus, thanking him for the miracle he had received. And so Jesus goes on to say, we’re not ten cleansed. Where are the other nine? And he says to the man who comes to thank him, Jesus says, Rise and go, your faith has made you well. And the Greek word here, well, it’s more than just being healed physically The Greek word is sometimes translated saved or rescued, but in this situation, I really see it as Jesus saying, your faith has made you whole. All ten of the lepers had received healing, but only one had received wholeness in both his body and his soul. And it was because of his gratitude. It was the gratitude of the Samaritan that completed the miracle. I gotta jump into this podcast episode to let you know I have a new book that’s out. Incarnation. Eight lessons on how God meets us is available now. Go order it. Link is in the show notes. See, gratitude when it comes to our relationship with God puts us in a right relationship with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Gratitude doesn’t just say, Thank you, God, for the gift you have given me. Gratitude is saying yes to the very giver of life. And so gratitude isn’t just an emotion. It’s not something that we feel, though, I would say when I’ve practiced gratitude, at least consistently, I do feel better. It brings a sense of satisfaction and joy. But gratitude is more than just a feeling. Gratitude is a formative practice. Colossians 4 2 in the message translation says, pray diligently. Stay alert with your eyes wide open in gratitude Once again, I love the message translation, particularly how it phrases that that last phrase. Stay alert with your eyes wide open in gratitude. As we practice gratitude, it forms us in a way of seeing. The attitude of gratitude is a way of seeing that God is indeed at work. Gratitude helps us, helps the eyes of our heart to see God’s grace and and God’s gifts and God’s presence. And so the Apostle Paul also says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. And so while Thanksgiving here in the US is not a Christian holiday, but it’s a good Christian practice. And so the Apostle Paul is saying, and and I think if he was writing to Christians in North America, he would say, don’t just give thanks on one day on Thanksgiving. But give thanks in all circumstances. Not just circumstances where everything is going good and everything seems right. but give thanks in each and every situation you find yourself in. And this is not a way, again, to deny suffering or to deny difficulties. Rather, it is a way to see God’s grace very present, even when it seems hidden Because when things aren’t going our way when it’s a difficult day, a stressful day, a day of setback and heartache It can feel like God is nowhere to be found. It feels like God isn’t present, that God has somehow abandoned us. And so by practicing, intentionally practicing gratitude, we can develop an attitude of gratitude. So that when we’re having a difficult and hard day, we can still see the grace of God Henry Nowen once said, gratitude goes beyond the mine and thine, and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift And I love that. Gratitude isn’t about ownership. It’s about openness. an openness to see God at work where at first glance it doesn’t l look like God is working at all Gratitude is learning to live with a posture of openness. And this posture is contrasted with just walking around with a clenched fist. raising it and shaking it above our heads in in complaint and disgust. And so living life with openness, with open hands, makes us Much more like Jesus. And honestly, it makes us healthier and I believe happier people And so gratitude and the practice of the presence of God really go hand in hand You you can’t be grateful and distracted at the same time Because when you give thanks, when you acknowledge just every day as a gift from God, it makes you very present to God’s work and activity, but it also just makes you present in the present moment. When we are giving thanks and practicing gratitude, we recognize that we are right here right in this place, right in this moment, and that is where God is at work. We spend so much of our time in reflecting on a regretful past. We spend a lot of time overanalyzing and stirring anxiety about the future But there is a spiritual practice of presence, of being right here, right now. There is a sacrament of the present moment. Just last summer I led a group of people through Brother Lawrence’s little book, The Practice of the Presence of God. Brother Lawrence was a monk. He he worked in the kitchen. He didn’t write the book. The book that we have now is a collection of conversations and letters and a collection of of his sayings. But Brother Lawrence’s great contribution to the Christian faith was developing these practices of acknowledging God’s presence with us at all times. And in the practice of the presence of God, Brother Lawrence says, we ought to give thanks for all things. It is the surest way to spiritual life. For him, gratitude wasn’t an emotional high. Uh he lived his life as a monk. And in the monastery, he worked in the kitchen. But he learned that his life of prayer and his life of work could be equal opportunities to draw near to the presence of God. So when he was gathered in the chapel in a moment of prayer, of course That’s an easy time to discern the presence of God. But Brother Lawrence learned how to discern God’s presence even while he was scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen And a part of that was that even in life’s most menial tasks, we can still give God thanks. Brother Lawrence washed dishes with the same kind of holy reverence that he received communion. And this, I believe, is an important lesson for us to learn. For us to learn to give God thanks for everything in each and every situation. And I’ll be honest with you, gratitude isn’t always easy. I find myself to be, for the most part, a person uh given to optimism. I I’m just an optimistic person. I tend to see the glass half full most of the time Certainly not all the time. I can give in to pessimism and cynicism as much as the next person. So I’m not pretending that any of this is easy But I have made it an intentional practice because I want to grow in this attitude Because I want to live my life lightly and freely, knowing that God is with me at every time, at every at every turn. on the good days and the bad days. And it really is on those bad days that it becomes a struggle to practice gratitude I mean, when the diagnosis comes or the prayer isn’t answered or the dream dies, I mean, in those moments, gratitude can feel impossible. And yet I think it’s in those crucial, painful, stressful moments of life that’s when gratitude becomes the most essential. Because gratitude will produce hope within us. And hope is like an anchor to the soul When things aren’t going well, we can easily fall into despair. But what keeps us centered? Well, I think one of the things is this practice of the presence of God, this Practice of gratitude of giving God thanks in each and every situation And gratitude as a habit allows us to not only discern God in menial tasks, because we can find God there. But gratitude is really at the heart of Christian worship. That’s what we saw in that Samaritan leper who gets healed. He was made whole, both body and soul, because of this spiritual practice of gratitude And so all of our actions in Christian worship, whether we are singing or praying, are all about expressing to God our love and our thanks. for all that God is doing. And for me, the the heart of Christian worship, the the most central practice of Christian worship is coming to the Lord’s table, celebrating Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper And one of the more traditional and ancient names for that practice is Eucharist. And Eucharist, uh, which is a word for communion I like to use, but sometimes I think it confuses people. That word Eucharist comes from a Greek word, which literally means to give thanks. Because remember when Jesus instituted this, what we call the practice of Holy Communion, Jesus is in that upper room with his disciples, celebrating a Passover meal. This was before his arrest and his sham trial and ultimately his execution. He is with his disciples. Sharing a Passover meal. And the Gospels tell us that Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks, he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples Now, in that process, don’t lose sight of Jesus giving thanks. This wasn’t just a obligatory prayer before a meal. This was a central part of celebrating communion when Jesus took that bread and gave thanks. That’s where we see the attitude of gratitude in Jesus. And it’s through that action that we really see how important gratitude is. Jesus Gave thanks, shared that bread on the very night he was betrayed by Judas He knew what was coming. He knew the suffering that stood before him, and yet Jesus gave thanks. And again, this was not to deny the hardship that was about to come. But for Jesus in instituting the sacrament of communion shows us a deep trust. in the goodness of God that outlasts the pain of the moment. And so when we come to the Lord’s table, and I don’t know about your church, in in my congregation, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Maybe you do it once a month or once a quarter or once or twice a year. But let me encourage you that whenever you’re participating in communion, Join in that same rhythm that we see in Jesus when he was instituting this sacred meal. Receive God’s grace Give thanks. Participate in the bread and the cup with the spirit, the attitude of gratitude And in doing so, you’ll really enter into the very heart and nature of God So if we’re going to practice this and develop a true attitude of gratitude, what are some of the things we can do? to cultivate this practice. Let me give you just a couple of thoughts. First, look for small gifts and give God thanks for them. Recognize the gift of life, the gift of being. Recognize that you woke up this morning and there is breath in your lungs, God has given you another day. Recognize those small gifts, those small blessings, and give God thanks for them. Secondly, when you are praying, make sure you include prayers of thanksgiving along with your requests I know a lot of people struggle with prayer because they’re not so sure what to say. It seems to be an instinct that we have. That when we go to prayer, we take God the things that concern us. We ask God for mercy, for help For ourselves, for our family, friends, for situations. And certainly that’s a part of prayer. We should certainly take the things that concern us to the Lord in prayer and Praying for one another is one of the ways that we show love for one another. But don’t only go into God’s presence through prayer to ask God for things. Start with gratitude Start by thanking God. So I’ve made this a habit over the years. So before I give God my list of requests. I thank God in advance. Because when I’m praying for specific people or specific outcomes, My faith is not in the outcome. My faith is in God. My faith and trust is ultimately in the goodness of God. So sometimes I don’t get the answer to prayer that I’m looking for. But again, my confidence is not in the outcome. My confidence is in God. So in prayer, make sure there’s prayers of thanksgiving. Next thing I would say is express your gratitude out loud Gratitude is not just a motivation or a thought that we have, but gratitude needs some kind of expression. So tell somebody in your life, I’m thankful for you. I appreciate you. As you’re recognizing these gifts that God gives Even if you’re alone, just say right out loud, God thank you for this. Saying it, vocalizing it, is a key practice to developing this attitude of gratitude The last thing I would say is make sure you end your day with a little bit of reflection. I really struggle with this one because at the end of the day I’m tired and I just want to go to bed. But I think if we can find a way at the end of the day, sometimes I do this while I’m brushing my teeth before I go to bed. I’ll just kind of reflect back on my day and I’ll ask myself, where did I notice the grace of God at work? What’s what’s one little blessing that happened? in this day that I can give God thanks for. And these suggestions all kind of work together It’s about prayer. It’s about vocalizing. It’s about developing habits, both for me in morning prayer, but also before bed, to look for ways to give God thanks. So I don’t know which of these you might want to put in practice, but let me encourage you just to start simple. Look for these blessings that might be small. And just start with something simple that once you recognize something, you give God thanks. When you get up in the morning, before you grab your phone Just reset your mind a little bit and maybe just say right out loud, God, thank you for the gift of this day. Or maybe while you’re brushing your teeth, you can reflect back on the day and we just think of that one thing, that one little blessing, you can stop and say, God, thank you for that. Because I believe when you begin to practice these things, you will begin to see the grace of God more and more clearly in your life Well, that’s all that we have for this episode.
Derek Vreeland: Thank you for joining me for this one. Go in peace and be kind.
This transcript was generated with AI and may contain errors.