Learn to Celebrate the Little Wins

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Let me tell you about a little bedtime practice that started with a few exhausted nurses and doctors. Long shifts and negative outcomes can be brutal. Before they crash, their phones ping with one simple prompt. Write down three good things from today and why they happened. One nurse rolls her eyes and types. A patient smiled for the first time. A co-worker left me coffee. The sunset over the parking lot was actually beautiful. You know, small stuff, but they do it again the next night and the next for 15 nights.

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Here's the question. Did anything actually change or was it just feel-good homework? The whole that thought will come back to it. Welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger, and for over 40 years as a pastor, I've watched God use His Word to meet people in the middle of everyday life.

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These next few minutes are here to encourage you, help you refocus on His truth, and give you something you can carry into your day. Today's verse comes from 1 Thessalonians 5, verse number 18. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. If we're honest, we tend to think that gratitude is for big stuff, like those big wow answered prayers, and like major blessings. But Paul's command here is way more universal. Be thankful in all circumstances. That means noticing the little things God does for us right in the middle of the mess and the daily grind of life. Gratitude has a way of changing the temperature of our hearts. It doesn't mean ignoring pain or pretending everything's fine. It means recognizing that even on the hardest days, God is still doing good things in and around you. And when you train your eyes to look for them, you'll see more than you expect.

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Now back to our story. Here's what the researchers at Duke University found. After 15 days of this three good things exercise, healthcare workers showed significant improvements in emotional exhaustion and depression, and higher happiness, not just a week later, but at one month, six months, and even 12 months. Work-life balance improved, too, especially in the early months. A simple nightly practice made a measurable dent in burnout. And for the rest of us, small gratitude, named out loud, reshapes us over time.

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Lord, thank you for the big blessings and the small mercies.

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Open my eyes to see the good you place in each day, and give me a heart that remembers to thank you for them. Help me to practice gratitude so that it becomes my reflex, not my afterthought. In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for joining me today on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, gratitude grows when you look for God's goodness in the little things.

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Come back next time for more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless, and have a great day.