10 Ways to Cultivate Thanksgiving and Gratitude
October is always a good month to remind ourselves of the need to be thankful. We want our kids to be grateful for what they have. We desire to express our thanks in meaningful ways. Romans 1:18 is a graphic illustration of God’s glory and man’s depravity, of what happens when we fail in the business of showing gratitude. Psalm 100 shows ways we enter His gates with thanksgiving. Let’s go..
Here are 10 ways that we can practice gratitude and thanksgiving.
1. A thanksgiving tree is a great way to make your thanks visual, ongoing and collective, there are many options, from super simple to a little bit more elaborate:
A. Use this free tree printable to make small individual trees, with leaves that you can write your words of thanks on. Ready in minutes.
B. If you have a few branches in your yard, some colourful paper, a hole punch and string you can create a ‘tree’ on which your family/guests/students can create a 3D decoration. Check these instructions out to make your own.
C. Ready to get a little more involved? These ideas from Country Living allow for free-flowing creative juices…
2. Would you love to curate a grateful attitude all year round? Ann Voskamp’s Joy Dare prompts thanksgiving throughout the year.
3. Do you like lists? Keeping a gratitude journal, either collectively or individually is a another way to keep gratitude and thanksgiving in mind. There isn’t a right or wrong way to do this, simply keep a written record of gratitude. This is a great article about starting and keeping gratitude journals and why it is a great idea.
You could take your journaling to the next level and add embellishments, doodles, stickers and art to your journal. This allows for interaction with the younger set who may not have the words to express what they’re thankful for but know how to point at pictures and can help glue things down.
These next ideas are based on our senses, sensory memory is a powerful connecting point:
5. See - Cultivating a heart of gratitude is often as simple as going for a walk in nature, or viewing beautiful art. Take a moment to read aloud from the Psalms and you can put yourself in David’s shoes. Where his heart was moved by beauty, he couldn’t help but give thanks. Psalm 104 contains incredible imagery that might lend itself to an art project as a way to express your thanks.
6. Listen - are you outside, pause and give thanks for the things that you can hear. Are you inside, put on some amazing music or watch a music video that contains powerful photography and music like Creation Calls by Brian Doerksen. Combining senses has greater impact!
7. Touch - gather some tactile objects like pinecones, leaves, flannel, rocks, fruit, a favourite toy. Close your eyes and touch one of the objects, guess what it is! When you’ve figured out what you’ve touched - say why you’re thankful for it.
8. Smell - cooking together and pausing to enjoy the aromas of fresh bread, cookies or pizza is another way to give thanks. Tying smells to memories, especially good ones is an excellent way to bond.
While I don’t drink coffee, I love the smell of it because it reminds me of home and the sight of my dad at the kitchen table with a big mug of coffee and his Bible every single morning. Coffee is the smell of home, my dad and security.
9. Taste - maybe instead of a traditional Thanksgiving meal you discover what your guests, including your kids’ favourite food is and somehow incorporate all of those tastes into your feast, you’ll then have some great conversation starters to find out what it is about that taste that means something to that individual.
To adapt that idea into your kidschurch - have everyone bring their favourite snack to share (of course watch out for allergies) and then invite the kids to say what it is that makes it a favourite.
10. We want to be a thankful people, it didn’t go well for those who grumbled and complained, it’s not an attitude that God enjoys. Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World by Kristen Welch talks about how saying no can help your kids give a bigger yes to God.
You have great ideas, too. Care to share? Write them in the comments, we’d love to learn from you!