Gratitude vs. Thankfulness: What’s the Difference?

The straight up reality is that Gratitude Journaling Saved My Life. Feel free to click on to read that story first if you missed it. And when I learned the shift between thankfulness and gratitude, it actually deepened my relationship with God and changed where I sat in heavenly realms. I’ll explain.

Gratitude Journaling is honestly the very simplest thing and is so incredibly powerful.

• Thankfulness has the power to change brain chemistry and neuropathways!
• Thankfulness helps us develop purity of heart when we seek out things to be grateful for instead of focus on what we can be critical about.
• Thankfulness keeps stress lower and gives us clearer minds.

Gratitude vs. Thankfulness

I don’t know what google will tell you, but one of my mentors from long ago, Christie Love, taught us at LeadHer that there’s a difference between gratitude vs. thankfulness. It felt revolutionary to me because I think I used to use those as synonyms (and probably still do when I talk sometimes to be honest.)  But I have tried to live out the difference even if I don’t say the words right. 😊

Thankfulness

Ms. Love taught us that Thankfulness is a feeling. We can feel thankful when something goes well or goes our way or when someone does something nice for us.

Gratitude

Gratitude is an action. When we express and show our thankfulness, then we are operating in gratitude. She taught us it’s not enough to feel thankful, but we need to express our thankfulness. I’d never really thought about that before, but I love the thought.

For Example:

How many times have I thought, “Wow, I’m so thankful for running water” when I do dishes! Countless! Yes, that’s a very healthy habit developed over time to be thankful. But it turns to gratitude when we GIVE the thankfulness we feel to someone. So thanksgiving and gratitude are certainly synonymous because they are both actions!

It turns to gratitude and thanksgiving when I say, “God, thank you for this clean water!” “Husband, thank you for providing this clean water for our family!”

And what if, instead of just thinking we’re grateful, what if we wrote a letter to congress. Instead of complaining about things but saying thanks! We could start with “Thank you for prioritizing and providing clean water for your citizens. Sincerely, a Grateful Nation.”

How to Give Thanks

There are many creative ways to demonstrate our gratitude:

• We can give thanks by sending someone a little gift of gratitude.
• By doing an act of service for someone just because we’re so thankful for all they’ve done for us.
• We can show our thanks with our words by telling someone out loud or by writing it down in a thank you note. [Thinking out loud… How many thank you notes have I written and not mailed? Ay chihuahua! I don’t want to know. I need to find my stamps and addresses and send them off, even if they are years late!] 😊
• And when it comes to thanking God, I love to sing or write down the things I’m thanking God for.

It’s good to write down things you’re grateful for like this:

Today I’m thankful for…

• Fresh snow
• Hot tea
• Something to look forward to! Resurrection Day tomorrow!
• Celebrating with family and friends!

And this will change brain chemistry and provide you with tons of mental health benefits.

But if you want to GIVE thanks, change the header of your list. This changes who the list is to and who the list is about. It also changes where you are seated… in earthly realms or in heavenly ones. God instructs us to enter His courts giving thanks!

Today, Lord, I thank you for…

• Sending fresh snow
• Providing hot tea
• Jesus, your baby, who died in my place!
• The Resurrection power you put inside of me when I died to myself and rose in Christ!

It feels like a small change but changing the subject our list of things we are thankful for makes a HUGE in shifting our hearts toward the Lord.

• Gratitude to God gives us all the natural benefits of thankfulness for brain chemistry and mental health, plus some!
• Giving God our gratitude vs. just thankfulness helps us build a deeper relationship with God.
• Showing God our gratitude humbles us to remember the One who created us and is caring for our every need.
• Thanking God instead of feeling thankful shifts our gaze from me, myself, and how I feel to the Lord God Almighty who gives us every good and perfect gift.
• And best of all, Gratitude is how we are taught to enter into God’s presence. And there’s no place as joyful and peaceful as in God’s presence! That’s where I want to be and gratitude is how we cross the threshold to get there!

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving.”

Psalm 110:4

We are called to enter the spiritual gates of heaven by turning the spiritual key of giving thanks.

Try it today.

Selah.