Thankfulness All Year Long

It’s almost Thanksgiving Day again in the good ol’ U.S. of A.  Messages
with cartoon turkeys and horns of plenty are crossing my computer
screen.  The stores display sections of brown, orange, and zucchini
green criss-crossing the reds and greens of Christmas (can’t we do one
holiday at a time?  But, I digress….)

The question that will be asked of most school-aged children this week
is, “What are you thankful for?”  My third-grade daughter has already
made a yellow and green Thanksgiving popper that looks like corn in
the husk.  It’s filled with strips of paper that list her thankfuls, and I
can’t wait to hear her perspective.

The question that I ask is, “How can we cultivate a spirit of
thankfulness all year long?”  And, of course, how can we model this for
our children?  Though Thanksgiving Day celebrates a very specific time
of helpfulness and cooperation in American history, there’s no good
reason that our thanksgiving has to occur on just one day. 

For example, as expressed in Psalm 95 in the Bible, thanksgiving to
the Lord is not a one-day event, but instead a constant desired state
of being:

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,
let us shout aloud to the Rock or our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

Here are a few ways I’ve practiced more regular thanksgiving, and a
new idea I haven’t yet tried.

1.  Engage in daily prayers or meditations:  My third grader and I say
nightly prayers that always begin with a few specific things we’re
thankful for.  I know others who would describe this as putting out
gratitude to the universe.

2. Write a note/notes of thanks once per week.  I go through periods
when I take time to reflect upon anyone who has shown me a special
kindness or anyone whom I simply appreciate in my life.  Then I pen
them notes or send them cards (and in more modern life, sometimes
e-mails).  For example, I really enjoyed certain times this past
summer with a handful of other moms and their daughters.  At the end
of the summer, I told them so in an e-mail note.

3. Here’s an idea I haven’t yet tried:  60 X 60 gratitude.  This idea is a
subset of the 60 X 60 experiment that pastor John Burke poses at
http://www.soulrevolution.net:
“For the next 60 days, try to stay in a continuous, honest
conversation with God, willing to do his will moment by moment.

Set a watch or alarm to beep every 60 minutes, and put up sticky
notes & reminders around your home, car & office, as a reminder to
stay connected.”

What if we became consciously thankful for something in the world, in
our country, in our schools, in our lives every 60 minutes for 60 days?
I think that might set a habit of thankfulness, one which we might feel
compelled to continue.

Your turn:  What ideas do you have that can help teach our children to
be thankful all year long?

Mama J (Diane Fromme) is a writer, parent, and stepparent located in
Northern Colorado.  For more information on her stepparenting book,
go to www.dianefromme.com.

Tags: gratitude, parenting, Parenting Resources, Social/Cultural, teaching our children, Thankfulness