Gratitude Within the Lines

Before we taught our youngest daughter the art of color theory—how to mix tones and shades—we first had to teach her something more basic: how to stay within the lines. Once she understood that, her creativity came alive. The lines didn’t confine her. They released her.

Gratitude works the same way. When we stay within the lines God gives us, our thanksgiving flourishes with color and life.

So far, we’ve learned that God commands all people to be thankful and that His grace empowers our thanksgiving. Now, we turn to the question of scope: how far does gratitude reach? Paul’s answer is simple and sweeping, “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:18).

Painting Gratitude on a Large Canvas

The canvas of gratitude is vast. It is infinitely wide and high. The phrase “in all circumstances” opens the scope wide open. Every moment of life—good or bad, calm or chaotic—is a setting for thanksgiving.

We are never not in a circumstance. You are in one right now, you’ll be in one tomorrow, and you just came out of one yesterday. Life is a seamless thread of overlapping situations. That means that every moment is an opportunity to give thanks to God.

We are never not in a circumstance—and every one is an opportunity for thanks.

Paul said it this way: “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). The psalmist echoes the same theme, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps. 34:1). Gratitude belongs everywhere because God’s grace reaches everywhere.

The thankful leper in Luke 17, who Jesus healed, illustrates this. He was not alone in his healing, but in his thanksgiving. Ten lepers were healed in body, but only one was healed in soul. His gratitude extended beyond his healing. It reached the Healer Himself. Gratitude always finds its way back to God.

Painting Gratitude Within the Proper Lines

But there’s a boundary we must respect—one small word that keeps us from painting outside the lines. Paul didn’t say, “Give thanks for all circumstances,” but “Give thanks in all circumstances.”

That preposition makes all the difference. To thank God for evil would be careless and cruel. The Bible never calls us to celebrate sin, death, or disaster. When Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Lk. 19:41–44), mourned in Gethsemane (Lk. 22:39–44), and cried at Lazarus’s tomb (Jn. 11:35), He was not giving thanks for those moments of grief, but He trusted His Father in them.

The same principle runs through Scripture. James tells believers to “mourn and weep” over sin (Ja. 4:9). The psalmist cries, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!” (Ps. 130:1). Righteous mourning doesn’t cancel gratitude; it deepens it.

So stay within the lines. We don’t give thanks for tragedy, but we do give thanks in tragedy, because grace is still present there. Gratitude isn’t blind to pain—it simply sees beyond it, trusting that God’s hand still holds the brush.

Every circumstance is a canvas for thanksgiving. Stay within the lines God draws, and watch how gratitude brings your life to life.

This article was adapted from the book Grateful Again by Jacob Abshire.