Fall Gratitude Journal Prompts for November

November makes gratitude compulsory, which is the fastest way to make it feel hollow. By the fourth Thursday most of us can produce the expected answer without meaning much by it.

These thirty prompts are for the whole month rather than the one day. They start before the pressure arrives and carry on after everyone has gone home. Proverbs 3:6 sits behind the whole month. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. All your ways is broader than one Thursday, and gratitude that only turns up for the meal has a short reach.

Days 1 to 10: The Season Itself

1. What do I love about November that I would miss in June?

2. What does the light do differently this month?

3. What tastes like autumn to me?

4. What has been gathered in this year, in my own life?

5. What am I glad is behind me?

6. What is warmer in my house this month than it was in August?

7. What ordinary comfort has this cold made me notice?

8. Where did I see something beautiful this week?

9. What has slowed down, and is that a relief?

10. What am I looking forward to before the year ends?

Days 11 to 20: The People

11. Who will be at my table this year?

12. Who will not be, and what do I miss about them?

13. Who has carried something for me this year?

14. Who did I not know last November?

15. What has someone taught me in the last twelve months?

16. Who could I thank this week who would not expect it?

17. What tradition do I keep because someone else started it?

18. Who is difficult and still worth loving?

19. Who has forgiven me?

20. Who am I grateful to be responsible for?

Days 21 to 30: Thanksgiving and After

21. What am I genuinely thankful for, before anyone asks me at the table?

22. What has God provided this year that I did not earn?

23. What did I ask for and not get, and can I be thankful for that yet?

24. What was the hardest month this year, and what came out of it?

25. What do I want to say grace over this week?

26. What was the best part of the day itself?

27. What do I want to remember about this Thanksgiving in ten years?

28. What is left when the leftovers are gone?

29. What am I carrying into December?

30. What would I want next November to find me grateful for?

A Note on the Fourth Thursday

Day twenty-six is deliberately written for the evening of the day rather than the morning. Answer it when the house is quiet and the dishes are done.

And day twenty-three is the hard one. Skip it if this has been that kind of year. It will still be there next November.