One of the things I love about November is that since the Thanksgiving holiday occurs this month, people often focus on gratitude. Did you know that gratitude is actually a spiritual practice? Being grateful is something we can choose to do in addition to feeling it naturally or spontaneously.

Despite the historical origins of the Thanksgiving holiday, we engage in it now as an opportunity to be thankful for many things in our lives: our loved ones, our health, our very lives. Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity to practice gratitude. And yet, does it or should it take a once yearly holiday to prompt us in the practice of gratitude?

How do you practice gratitude? There are many ways, including prayer or communicating verbally to someone that you appreciate them. To help guide us in the practice of gratitude, we are in the midst of our 30 Days of Gratitude on our Hope Facebook page. Our Communications team has put together weekly prompts to help us express and practice gratitude. I love what they have come up with and I encourage you to visit our Facebook page and engage in those prompts each week.

Our hope is that gratitude becomes a regular rhythm of your life as you live out your faith. I am so grateful for each of you, for our community here at Hope, and for Jesus, who gives hope, light and life to everyone. Bless you and see you all soon!