Many of the stories that make up our lives are stories of grief–whether losing someone through death or through the myriad of ways that living grief shows up for us. We may grieve what was, we may grieve what is now, and we also may grieve for what we thought would be. Yet, in the midst of the grief is the ever present, the ever bidding for our attention concept of gratitude. Gratitude in all its glory shines light through the pain and reminds us that there is some glimmer of goodness, growth, redemption, beauty, and love.

I think we can all agree that gratitude is a good thing, that we want to be grateful people ourselves, and that we desire grateful hearts in our children. Like so many things, we can have these great ideals, but the application can be challenging…