Gratitude is good for you. 

Research of human brains and behaviors strongly associates gratitude with greater happiness, improved health, better relationships, resilience in adversity, better enjoyment of experiences, and positive expression of emotions. 

Participants in one study were asked to write a few sentences each week. One group was instructed to write about things that happened during the week for which they were thankful. Another group wrote down daily irritations. The third group did general journaling. After ten weeks, the first group reported more optimism, exercised more, and had fewer visits to the doctor. 

Praise God for this study! But there’s more. If you are a Christian, you have another big reason to be healthy and happy. God is good all the time!

Paging through the Bible, you’ll see that giving thanks to God can be triggered by events. Healings. Victories. Forgiveness. Heaven. But giving thanks is also triggered purely by God being God.

Try giving thanks just to give thanks—thanks for your God who is good.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34). Dear God, thanks for being you.

Can you commit to giving thanks just to give thanks until the end of this year? Give thanks to God, not necessarily related to your experiences but just because he’s God. And see what a difference it makes!