“As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2:6-7
This daily devotional for women centers on a simple but challenging idea: gratitude is not a mood. It is a way of walking. Paul tells the believers in Colossae that life in Christ should overflow with thanksgiving, not occasionally, but as a settled posture of the heart.
What This Verse Means
Paul wrote these words to a church he wanted to see grow deep roots in their faith. The phrase “rooted and built up” paints a picture of steady growth, like a tree planted firmly in good soil. According to Desiring God, biblical gratitude goes far beyond quickly counting blessings or checking off a mental to-do list. It actually reshapes how believers see God and the world around them, then spills over into how they treat other people.
Gratitude, in this sense, is not a single act but a discipline that grows other good qualities alongside it. Desiring God describes thankfulness as a “parent virtue,” explaining that training yourself to look for reasons to be grateful each day allows other virtues, like patience and joy, to mature as well.
That idea connects to other passages on thankfulness. Paul writes elsewhere, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). And the Psalms open with a direct call to gratitude: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1). According to GotQuestions.org, those two reasons, God’s goodness and his steadfast love, become most clear when believers recognize their own need for him and understand that apart from God there is only death.
Living It Today
Life as a woman today often means carrying a long list of responsibilities: work deadlines, family needs, friendships that need tending, and a constant stream of demands on your attention. In the middle of all that, gratitude can feel like one more thing to remember rather than something that comes naturally. But Scripture frames it differently.
GotQuestions.org notes that when believers practice thankfulness, their focus shifts away from selfish desires and away from the pain of current circumstances. That shift helps you remember that God remains in control, even when your day does not go as planned.
Gratitude also reminds you of the bigger picture, according to GotQuestions.org: that you belong to God and have already been given every spiritual blessing. That truth does not erase hard seasons. The Bible records believers like David in Psalm 28 and Job giving thanks in the middle of real suffering, showing that gratitude flows from trusting who God is, not from circumstances being easy.
Paul offers a related instruction in Colossians 3:15: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Peace and thankfulness are connected here. When you let Christ’s peace lead, gratitude becomes the natural response, even on days filled with noise and pressure.
Mary Mohler, who serves as the president’s wife at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and leads the Seminary Wives Institute, has written on this theme in her book “Growing in Gratitude,” according to Desiring God. Her work points to thankfulness as something worth intentionally discipling in the lives of women, not something that simply happens on its own.
Reflection Questions
Where in your life right now do you find it hardest to give thanks?
How might focusing on God’s goodness and steadfast love, rather than your circumstances, change the way you move through today?
What would it look like to let thankfulness grow alongside patience or joy this week?
A Prayer For Today
Lord, thank you for your goodness that does not run out and your love that endures no matter what I am facing. Help me take my eyes off my worries and fix them on you. Teach me to walk rooted in Christ, growing in thankfulness even on the hard days, and let that gratitude shape how I treat the people around me.
Give me your peace, and let it lead me into a thankful heart. Amen.
For more faith-based reflection, read this devotional for men on love, and check back daily for a new daily devotional for women rooted in Scripture.
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