With 97% of the year now gone, it is time to take stock of 2025 and cast our eyes towards the year ahead.

2025 brought many experiences my way, just as I believe it did for you. Moments of joy, excitement, uncertainty, pain, and discovery all formed part of my journey.

As I look back, the one thing I hope to carry with me into 2026—and to do even better—is remaining immersed in gratitude in every moment of my life.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us to “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Giving thanks is fairly easy, but doing so in all circumstances is not.

Knowing that God, as our Creator, cannot ask of His creation what we cannot do, I reflected on how I might cultivate this round-the-clock attitude of gratitude. I realised that comparison has been a major interrupter of consistent gratitude in my life.

Last month, I was scrolling through my phone, reading posts on X, when I came across one titled “Top 25 Countries with the Lowest Quality of Life in 2025.” It was a repost by someone I follow. I immediately scanned the list, looking for a country that you can probably guess.

I am not entirely sure why, but I expected Uganda to appear. When I realised it was missing, a quiet sense of gratitude settled in my heart: the country I call home has a better quality of life than at least 25 others.

However, before I could swipe to the next post, a question struck me: How would I have felt if the list had instead been “Top 25 Countries with the Highest Quality of Life in 2025” and Uganda was not among them?

Comparison is a gratitude killer, and it achieves this in two ways.

1. It robs us of authentic gratitude and replaces it with comparative gratitude

Comparative gratitude is the kind we experience when we measure ourselves or our circumstances against those of others and decide that we are better off.

Many people seem unable to feel gratitude without comparison. For example, gratitude for safe travels is often expressed in contrast to those whose travels were not safe. Many feel grateful for achievement only when they have outperformed others. There must always be someone perceived to be in a worse situation.

The world is not an arena for comparison, nor is comparison the purpose of life. Each of us is an independent being with a unique journey designed specifically for us.

The fact that we each have our own body and do not compete with anyone for oxygen should remind us to look within and give thanks based on what we are personally experiencing—without comparison. Comparative gratitude is shallow because our attention, distracted by others, prevents us from seeing the full depth and breadth of what God is doing in our lives.

2. It sets the stage for unending complaining

Using the example of the list above: the list I saw stirred comparative gratitude in me, but the imaginary opposite list—if I were ever to find it—would likely stir a spirit of resentment. I would have been disappointed not to find Uganda listed among the 25 countries with the highest quality of life in 2025.

When our gratitude depends on believing we are better off than those we compare ourselves to, we will inevitably become resentful when we encounter those we perceive to be doing better than we are.

Once we settle for a life of comparison, we lower our standard of what is best from what God could do in our lives to what is happening in the lives of others. And since our eyes are not set on the one God but rather on the many people around us, the complaining becomes a vicious cycle.

Although the winds of temptation to look outward for reasons to be grateful will follow us into 2026, we must, like a ship’s captain, keep both hands firmly on the steering wheel of our focus and not get distracted by what is happening in other people’s lives. What God gives or denies them is their business, not ours.

As we enter the next year, may our hearts overflow with unending gratitude—gratitude rooted not in what is around us, but in our personal relationship with God and in what He is doing in our lives.