The chief idea of my life…is the idea of taking things with gratitude, and not taking things for granted. – GK Chesterton

HearthKeepers has practiced Daily Thanksgiving for the month of November for years, but this year, Sarah and I decided to start early—early as in late September. What a blessing it has been. Both of us felt like so many of our private conversations with individual homemakers, and even with each other, were full of horrors—health issues, church issues, home issues, personal issues, and financial issues. We thought it wise to build in some hope and gratitude for our own sake and for the sake of each other. The only way to really persist through the horrors is to look for the good, and that starts with expressions of thanksgiving.

What a blessing it has been.

Hardly a day has gone by without some thankfulness expressed by one of you. Thank you, ladies, for participating so consistently and with so much delight. Expressions of gratitude have ranged from new babies to weather, from food to fellowship to jobs, from music to books to shows to vacations. Gratitude has been expressed through soft days and hard days, about little things and big things, temporary things and eternal things. That’s the thing about thanksgiving; it can be as broad as new life and the Lord’s Day and as little as a flower or a cup of coffee. Gratitude elevates everything into a gracious gift, which warms our hearts and sweetens our days.

As Thanksgiving wraps up and flows into Christmas and the winter gets deeper, can we continue to use this gift of appreciation? Here are some ways to use it.

Turn Troubles into Hope: In this life, even in our cozy little homes, troubles abound. We can’t escape trouble. Sin, suffering, trials, and hard times spread like weeds each moment of our sojourn here. But!!! (What a wonderful word, “but!”) we can take up the shield of gratitude and push back against despair with simple acts of thankfulness. Instead of letting our eyes rest on the troubles and letting our hearts be tossed to and fro, we can settle on hope by looking for the good. When we’ve had those horrible emails arrive, or those late-night texts, or an inexplicable darkness settles in our hearts, no matter how forlorn, we can start to list off things that we are thankful for. We can start with the basics: food, shelter, and clothing. If you can think of nothing beyond that in that moment of shattering, be thankful you have food in your fridge, a roof over your head, and clothes in your closet. From there, keep pushing. We can be thankful for a coming Sunday, for sleep, for clouds, for the stars that are still there, for sunrises and sunsets. Each of these are an Ebenezer raised as a memorial to God’s goodness, and each of these are an act of defiance against despair. Practicing our thanksgiving turns trouble on its head.

Pray for Each Other: Daily thanksgiving in a group like HearthKeepers can be a great reminder to pray for each other. This is another way we turn trouble into hope. As we all work towards being sturdy, steady, and still soft, we can help one another through prayer. When we see thanks for vacations, we can pray for travel mercies, rest, and recuperation. When we see thanks for those new babies, we can pray for postpartum mothers. When we see thanks for jobs, we can pray for all our labor, both paid and unpaid. Gratitude for our communities can easily move into prayers for our communities. Daily thanksgiving should be daily prayer.

Light the Way Back Home: All of us desire to make homes. We love all that home holds. We glory in all that home brings into the lives of the people we love. We are all in on the value of our labors. Practicing daily thanksgiving helps us keep our light in our windows to guide our people back home. When we fill heart-gardens with the fertilizer of gratitude, the seeds we plant bloom into big, bold, beautiful warmth. It is impossible to stand against a grateful woman. She will nourish and nurture in life-altering ways. Without a word, we will create an environment that everyone wants to be in. No matter what is on our walls, our homes will be infused with coziness, comfort, and cheer.

Habits of Gratefulness: Having a community that is posting daily prompts helps all of us build good habits. Did you ever consider that when you posted your thanksgiving, I stopped what I was doing and thought about what I was thankful for? We can get so busy with our hands in the dirt of daily life that we need someone else to lift our eyes to the heavens. We do this for each other when we take a few seconds to post a bit of thankfulness. Doing this every day builds into doing this throughout the day which builds into doing this as part of our character.

Thankfulness, gratefulness, and appreciation are how we develop Merry Durability and Cheering Strength. It builds the Merry and the Cheering as well as the Durability and the Strength. This is true, lasting self-care. Maids, Matrons, and Crones, let’s be a group that daily looks for the good from God and daily speaks to one another of the good that we found. Thank you all, again, for jumping on this bandwagon and expressing your delight in the grace that infuses all our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving, HearthKeepers!

2025 Daily Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

Soft and Sturdy