What Works Needs Our Praise

In a world that can tilt sideways without warning, I found myself struggling with gratitude—not the real thing, but the performative kind we’re expected to summon each November.

Then I came across a simple phrase shared by writer Maria Popova, and it softened something in me: what works needs our praise.

Not praise on demand.Not gratitude squeezed from a tired heart.Just a gentle noticing of what is faithful and true.

Lately I’ve been praising the small and steady things:

my car that starts in the cold,the electric blanket that warms my body,the beauty and peace of our studio,the unexpected kindnesses that arrive exactly when they’re needed.

There is something sweetly devotional in this kind of gratitude—not a bypassing of life but an exhaling surrender to what is.