Thinking Is Thanking
Thinking Is Thanking: How Gratitude Begins in the Mind and Ripens Into Joy
Well, hello friends. I’m so grateful to be here in the Rocky Mountains—Summit County, Colorado—with Frisco behind me and Lake Dillon sparkling in the distance. It’s a gorgeous day, and today we’re talking about a simple but transformative truth:
Thinking is thanking. And thanking is like planting a hosta.
Yes… a hosta.
It’s an old phrase, going all the way back to Old English, when think and thank shared the same root. To thank someone literally meant to think kindly of them. So to think is to thank.
But let me ask you:
Which comes first—the feeling of gratitude or the act of saying “thank you”?
If we wait for the feeling of gratitude before giving thanks, we may never get around to it. But when we choose to say “thank you,” the feeling often follows.
Brother David Steindl-Rast, in his book Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer, writes that gratefulness begins with the intellect, moves to the will, and finally ripens into feeling. He says:
“Everything is gratuitous. Everything is gift.
The degree to which we are awake to this truth is the measure of our gratefulness.
And gratefulness is the measure of our aliveness.”
Think about that:
Everything is gift. And gratefulness is the measure of our aliveness.
1. Gratitude Begins in the Mind: Seeing Everything as Gift
Paul asks a haunting question in 1 Corinthians 4:7:
“What do you have that has not been given to you?”
Our gratitude begins by thinking about this question.
We look at our:
Possessions
Relationships
Circumstances
Life events
Daily moments
…and we ask:
How is this gift?
This is the heart of the Thanksgiving Gratitude Challenge—writing down what you’re thankful for. Gratitude starts in the mind by identifying how each thing, each person, each moment is gift.
2. Gratitude Moves to the Will: Choosing to Act
After the mind recognizes gifts, the next step is engaging the will.
You can't command a feeling.
But you can command an action.
That’s why Scripture repeatedly tells us:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.”
It doesn’t command us to feel thankful.
It commands us to give thanks.
This is where thanking becomes like planting a hosta.
Planting Hostas: Gratitude as Ground Cover for the Mind
When we bought our home, we inherited a garden filled with hostas—hundreds of them. Hostas are the perfect ground cover. They shade the soil, and weeds can’t break through.
Your mind is a garden.
Thoughts are seeds.
Weeds will grow on their own.
You can’t control what pops into your mind.
But you can control what stays in your mind.
You can:
Pull weeds (harmful or unhelpful thoughts)
Plant hostas (good practices and patterns)
Practicing gratitude is like planting hostas.
It shades out the weeds.
It forms a protective ground cover in your thought life.
It cultivates a healthier, more joyful mind.
3. Gratitude Ripens Into Feeling: Joy Comes Last
Only after the work of thinking and the discipline of the will does gratitude ripen into joy.
Joy is the fruit—not the seed.
We are not talking about pretending life is perfect.
We’re acknowledging that even when life is hard, we can still choose a posture of thanksgiving.
As we plant gratitude again and again, joy slowly ripens—quiet, steady, real.
A Holiday Gratitude Practice: Preparing Your Heart
As we head into the holiday season—Thanksgiving meals, Christmas dinners, and gatherings with people who may be very easy or… a bit harder—I want to invite you into a practice.
Make a list of the people who will be at your holiday table.
For each person, write down:
➡️ 10 things you’re grateful for
Some will be easy—you could write 100.
Others will take time and intention.
That’s okay. That is gratitude engaging the will.
Then bring that list to God in prayer:
“God, thank you for Uncle Frank and the way you made him.”
“Thank you for Aunt Alice and who she is.”
Pray through each name.
Prepare your mind and heart for gratitude before you walk into the room.
By practicing gratitude now, you’ll be ready to offer it as a gift later.
May you discover that everything—truly everything—is gift.
May you thank God for it.
And may joy ripen sweetly in your heart.
