ave you ever had a day when you wake up and everything you look at or think about can only be viewed by what’s wrong or missing? Small things seem insurmountable. Your focus is on the lack. It makes the child’s bad attitude toward his brother seem so pervasive that it’s hard to remember a time when he has been kind to his sibling. The dirty floor and cluttered counter feel like giant flashing roadsigns signaling what you knew to be true all along: Life has spun out of control and just as you suspected, it’s because you’re not enough.

It’s almost as if your eyes themselves have been coated with a filter that twists everything you see. This coating, if left to itself, becomes your perspective. One that sees circumstances through the lens of hopelessness. I know that word seems overly dramatic here, but if you think about it, that really is at the root. Because if you had hope, you wouldn’t only be seeing what’s wrong and then combining it with that feeling of I don’t know how this will change. That’s hopelessness.

If praise and worship are the language of heaven, what might the language sound like that points the other way? It would have to be complaining, grumbling, no hope, no faith. Ugh. Just think about what these words and attitudes release into our midst.

Days like the one I described above seem to come out of nowhere sometimes. Other times, they come when I neglect to get up early and spend the time I know my heart needs with the Lord. Or perhaps it has come because I’m tired and haven’t carved out enough time for rest or recreation. This often requires communication on my part with my husband or a friend to ask for help.

No matter the cause, a game plan is needed on days like these. I can’t afford to waste an entire day listening to the lies the enemy is throwing at me and neither can you. And truly, if we lived out the following principles on a daily basis I think days like these would be eliminated.

In the last magazine, I talked about Simple Gratitude. At the center of it, we broached this question with ourselves, what does gratitude look like when life is challenging? I feel the Lord putting it on my heart for us to take this a step further and think about what it means to have deep gratitude.

There’s something so powerful about giving thanks, praising, rejoicing, and worship. All different threads of the same chord. Each one sets our focus away from what’s missing to what is present that’s good. Let’s define each of these words:

• Thanksgiving: expression of gratitude
• Praise: adoration and appreciation
• Worship: reverence, devotion, glorification, exaltation
• Rejoice: to show great joy, be joyful

I like how this scripture uses the word magnify. We were made to magnify Him. The truth is though, we tend to magnify our circumstances and difficulties instead. Giving thanks and setting our hearts on gratitude is not something we’re necessarily going to feel like doing. That’s why it’s often referred to as a sacrifice of praise:

It doesn’t say think about offering God a sacrifice of praise. Or, thank Him every once in a while. The Bible is very clear that we are to give thanks:

I heard a story about a great man of God who used to force himself to jump out of bed in the morning and proceed to dance before the Lord and tell Him how great He is for the first ten minutes of each day. Now wouldn’t that be a great way to start your day? You’d basically be telling your flesh that this is how it’s going to be. I don’t care if you feel like it or not, we’re praising God! And not because everything in our lives is perfect, but because He is worthy!

In learning about gratitude, I read that being grateful changes the molecular structure of your brain and increases function. When practiced, it leaves us happier and even healthier. And the more we do it, the more we rewire our brains to automatically look for the good. No wonder the Bible talks so much about it. The Lord knows what we need.

So what would a lifestyle of gratitude look like for you? And how can we create a culture in our homes that focuses on the good?

Here are just a couple simple ideas to get you thinking: Keep a gratitude journal. Once a week, have a jar where everyone in the family adds something they’re grateful for. Take gratitude walks and actively be on the lookout for things to appreciate. That would be a fun one to do as a family! Start each morning with rejoicing and make a joyful noise! Here’s an idea I’m going to try: Don’t let yourself have that first sip of coffee in the morning until you’ve made an effort to praise God first.

shley Wiggers grew up in the early days of the homeschooling movement. She was taught by her late mother, Debbie Strayer, who was an educator, speaker, and the author of numerous homeschooling materials. It was through Debbie’s encouragement and love that Ashley learned the value of being homeschooled. Currently, Ashley and her husband Alex are the publishers of Homeschooling Today magazine. Ashley is the Co-Executive Editor and a contributing columnist as well as one of the hosts of their podcast, Homeschool Boldly. Husband and wife team, Alex and Ashley are busy raising and homeschooling their three children while running the family business together.