Gratitude for What You Have

Gratitude changes how you see. When you start listing what's missing, marriage will always seem incomplete — because it is, because no marriage is perfect. But when you start listing what you have, something opens up.

Think of three things — just three — that your spouse does that you appreciate. It can be small: he turns off the light before falling asleep, he asks how your day was, he is faithful. Sometimes we forget to be grateful for what is stable because our eyes are fixed on what bothers us. Gratitude doesn't deny the problems — it refuses to let them be the only story. God is in the details. He is in the breakfast someone made, the hand that touched a shoulder at just the right moment, the laughter shared at the end of the day. Look at those moments. They are gifts.