Character Qualities

Positive Effects of Thankfulness

How’s your thank you list going?  Regularly writing down what you are thankful for can increase your level of happiness by at least 25%.   I have always believed that an attitude of gratitude is vital to your happiness and your health because of what Scripture indicates. (Proverbs 17:22 “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” is just one example.)

However, Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier offers scientific evidence of this and that a grateful spirit actually improves your health: “The person who experiences gratitude is able to cope more effectively with everyday stress  . . . recover more quickly from illness, and benefit from greater physical health.”   I haven’t read the book yet, but I am always thrilled when scientists discover the reality of what Scripture has always said.  Read more of the research results here.

I read Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy this year as I was going through a difficult time in my life.   The book was a fresh reminder to concentrate on being thankful, which did tremendously help me cope with my circumstances at the time.   God doesn’t just tell us to do something for no reason.  He has our best interest in mind when He says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thes. 5:18

Let’s teach our children early to have an attitude of gratitude, not just so we look good when they utter an unsolicited thank you to the waitress ;-), but so that throughout their lives they will experience all the positive effects of thankfulness that God intends for them.

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Keeping Thanks in Thanksgiving: Bible Stories

Use the Bible to make your children aware of people who thanked God.  The first Bible story that comes to mind that has to do with thanks is the story of the Ten Lepers in Luke 17:11-19.  Ten lepers came to Jesus and were healed, but only one came back to say thank you.  At Amazon.com you can buy an Arch book about this entitled He Remembered to Say Thank You.    Our children loved the Arch Books as they tell the Bible stories in rhyme and the pictures are very colorful. There are many Bible stories available in the Arch Series.

The story of Hannah A Mother Who Prayed (also an Arch books) is an example of thankfulness as she earnestly prayed for a child and when God answered her prayer, she gave Him thanks. This story is found in 1 Samuel 1 and 2.

The Psalms are full of David’s thank yous.  And Paul talks often of his thankfulness for various things.

If you don’t have the books, read the stories in the Bible for yourself, and then tell them in your own words with expression.  Be creative and use visuals.  For example for the Ten Lepers you can make 10 paper dolls with dots all over them on one side and then flip them over  to reveal the spots are all gone when you talk about Jesus healing them.  Have all of them leave, and then one of them comes back to thank Jesus.

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Keeping Thanks in Thanksgiving: Express Thanks to Others

God deserves all our praise and thanksgiving, but He also wants us to have a grateful spirit toward others. God says in Matthew 25:40 that when we do something for others, it is like doing it for Him.

Everyone needs to feel appreciated. Tell others how thankful you are for them, what they do, their attitude, their smile, their words, etc.

Make thank you notes for people in your life that you don’t normally think of thanking, such as the mailman, doctor, teacher, grandparent, the men who pick up the trash, your waiter, the paint mixer at Lowe’s, the UPS delivery man, your children, your spouse.

Be specific and creative.  Lead the whole family to participate in making cards or expressing thanks in some way.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”- William Arthur Ward.

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Keeping Thanks in Thanksgiving – A ‘Thank You God for’ List

About the 1st of November, I used to always put a large piece of paper on the refrigerator  with the words, “Thank you God for” at the top.  Family members were encouraged to regularly write down something they are thankful for.  This has been a tradition for many years in our home. We enjoy writing our own and reading what the rest of the family has written.

Now that we are separated from of our children most of the time, we start a thanksgiving Groupme chat about the first of November and we all post on it throughout the month. (You can download the Groupme app for group texting – this has really helped to keep our family connected!) Writing down your blessings can really change your outlook.  As the old hymn by Johnson Oatman says, “Count your many blessings; name them one by one; and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

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Thanksgiving ideas – Excerpt from Here A Little, There A Little

Here a Little, There a Little is a compilation of  Bible activities I created years ago to use with my preschool children.  It was designed to spend a week memorizing the verse and reinforcing it through 5 Bible lessons and 5 activities.  I hope you find this helpful.

Memory Verse:   In everything give thanks.  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Character Quality – Contentment

Bible Thoughts: (Read  and then tell  in your own words)

Hebrews 1:15 God wants us to give Him thanks more than anything.  He would rather us tell Him “thank you” than to give Him money.  He would rather us tell Him “thank you” than give Him presents.  God likes to hear “thank you”.

Psalm 119:1 David thanked God for everything God did.  He thanked him for the good things.  He even thanked God for the bad things that happened.  David thanked God even when he was hurt because it helped him to learn God’s Word.  The bad things that happen to us can help us learn more about God when we go through the hurtful things. God wants us to thank Him when good things happen and not so good things happen.

John 6:1-13 One day Jesus was teaching a lot of people and they were all hungry.  Jesus took what food was given to him by a little boy and thanked God for the food.  God made enough food from that to feed all the people.  Jesus gave thanks for His food and so should we.

Luke 17:19 One day 10 sick men came to see Jesus.  They asked Jesus to help make them well.  He told them how to be healed.  When they obeyed him, they were healed.  All 10 were healed but only 1 came back to thank Jesus.

Psalm 139:14 David thanked God for making him.  He said, “I will thank God for making me wonderfully”  David thanked God for making all of his body – eyes, nose, mouth,  ears, hands, feet, stomach, etc.  Thank God for making all of you.

Prayer: Dear God, Help us focus on the things we do have and not on the things we don’t have.

Activities for baby:
Thank God for someone special; show picture of them.
Pull pictures of things out of ‘thank you box’.
Show familiar objects while you say “thank you, God for…”
Sing “In Everything Give Thanks”.
Play with hands, feet, etc while you say “thank you, God for…”

Activities for older preschoolers:
Thank God for someone special and make a card for them.
Look for pictures of things to be thankful for and put in a ‘thank you box’.
Paste picture of foods (favorite and not so favorite) on a paper plate and write the Bible verse on it.
Make paper cut outs of the 10 sick men and act out the story.
Play ball together and thank God for each part of the body as you use them.

Songs: “In Everything Give Thanks” (be creative and put the verse to a simple tune)

Books:

The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes

He Remembered to Say Thank You (Arch Books)

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