At the start of this school year, I wrote about the desire to practice something new that I called “Advance Gratitude,” or pausing in gratitude for the graces and the blessings that will be. Sometimes when I write about my desires to do something new in prayer, I do not always succeed with my intentions. I tend to have a couple of weeks of total commitment before life gets in the way and all my good intentions fall away. This time, however, was different. The morning the post was published, I noticed a desire welling up in me to make an honest effort to try this practice on a daily basis, and I have done so every day since.
For the last four months, every weekday morning, after I dropped off my children at school and started my own drive to work, I practiced advance gratitude. First, I said aloud to God all the things I was grateful for since the last time we spoke. Then, I told God what I was grateful for in advance. Depending on what lay ahead on a particular day or even how the traffic looked on a particular morning, my words of advance gratitude to God differed. Over time, however, my advance gratitude practice developed some unexpected constants, like:
- “Today, God, I am grateful in advance for you reminding me to enter every encounter presuming the good will of the other.”
- “Today, God, I am grateful in advance for the times you will remind me to keep on going, one step at a time, co-creating with you in the work I feel deeply called to do.”
- “Today, God, I am grateful in advance for all the times you will remind me that I am loved as I am, no matter what.”
- “Today, God, I am grateful in advance for you reminding me that I am who you say I am, a person I am continuing to discover as our relationship deepens.”
I have been surprised by how this practice has kept me grounded as the person I am becoming and in the work God is calling me to do. As I look back over my semester of this gratitude practice, I can see how God has been moving in my days, providing me what I needed when I needed it. This practice has made me feel more than ever like a co-creator alongside God and a partner in the work of my life. I can also see how God has refined my advance gratitude as I have increased in freedom and detachment from some particular wants through this practice. Over the last four months, my trust and faith in God have increased, even when things have not gone exactly as I wanted them to go. My practice also has helped me see the patterns of God moving in me and through me and the others I encounter on the way.
As I begin this Advent season, I am noticing a desire welling up in me to take this practice one step further. I want to see what it looks like to pray a little advance gratitude for the graces God will provide others around me each day. For example, what would it look like if I prayed, “Thank you, God, in advance for giving my coworker the courage to lean into something new today,” or “Thank you, God, in advance for giving my son patience with himself today as he works on developing his reading skills.”
I wonder how drawing the focus of my advance gratitude outside of myself might help me deepen my friendship with God as well as help me more intentionally notice God moving in those around me daily. I wonder how drawing the focus outside of myself might be one small way to bring the joy of the Incarnation to life this Advent.
Will you join me?
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.
What a great idea – thank you!