7 Ways to Develop Thankfulness in Your Kids

With Thanksgiving around the corner, kids are making turkeys traced from their fingers and scribbling their blessings on it.  Our whole country for a few short weeks focuses on the reasons we have to be thankful.  As parents we want more for our kids then a week’s worth of gratitude.  We want them to understand and be grateful everyday for all the blessings in their lives.  But how?  

Today, I have 7 tips for Christian parents to help their kids develop thankfulness in their daily lives. 

Lessons learned at Tae Kwon Do

Recently my daughters and I joined a Tae Kwon Do class. If

you are struggling (or snickering) as you imagine me as the oldest white belt in a class filled with people under 12, that's ok I understand.    It's pretty funny.  Especially when we are crab walking.  Or frog jumping.  Or I am lying on the gym floor wondering if I just did irreparable damage to my body.  Besides all the hilarity, and amazing physical benefits, Tae Kwon Do has taught me spiritual lessons as well.

In age as in youth

Daniel was more than eighty years old, elderly for our modern age and ancient for the pre-industrial world. Yet the gifts that had twinkled in his youth were in full bloom in age.  

Do you remember the boy who prayed believing that the God of fallen Israel and Judah could miraculously reveal the answer to him in far off Babylon (Daniel 2)? He became the aging man who foresaw the coming of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies and Seleucids, the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes and the coming in power of the Son of Man.  While Belshazzar was forgetting who Daniel was, Daniel was seeing the throne room of God (Daniel 7).

Resources for your Reboot

How are your New Year’s resolutions going?  Did you give up on the gym yet? Start cheating on your new diet?  Violate January’s budget?  No?  Great!

I hope your rebooted plan to be a regular student of God’s Word is also going well.  If you missed the first part of this post, go read it real quick and then come enjoy the multitude of resources we gathered for you to help you get started!

Spiritual Reboot

I love the gym.  I love the spiritual disciplines too. I love them both the same way.  Sporadically.

Seriously, in the long-term, discipline has been a powerful component in my walk with God. It does more for my spiritual health than exercise does for my physical health.  I appreciate them all the more because I can see so clearly how empty, tempted and tired I am without them. 

Developing Virtue: Rules or the Heart?

Are you a follow your heart kind of girl or a follow the rules kind of girl? 

It seems to me that there is a huge dichotomy between the two; a dichotomy that people in the church especially struggle to work out.  One one side of the aisle people encourage a strict adherence to certain rules.  Sometimes we fight vociferously about which rules are necessary, but all the folks on that side vote "Rules!" every time.  On the other side of the aisle we have people who insist that we follow our hearts.  Christ came to set us free from the strictures of the law, they claim.  And neither side has difficulty backing up their points with scripture.

The Shoulds

I am a girl of discipline.  I don't mean I am a disciplined person; in fact if there is a category of sins I have struggled with more than any other, it is those related to self-control.  I mean that I count on my daily disciplines to help me stay on track.  I need those external railings to keep me on the road of self-control.  I read my Bible, do devotionals with my girls, pray, worship etc in a rhythm of days and weeks that sustains and steadies me.  Not because I am strong but because I am weak.  I do them for the joy and when the joy fails me I do them because I should. 

The Snooze Button

This morning my alarm went off.  I hit the snooze once.  It went off again.  I thought I should get up and read my Bible.  Then I thought again.  Snoozing some more sounds much better, or I could play my iPad some before I get up.  

Just as I was reaching for the iPad for one of these more appealing sounding options, James 4:17 came to mind: "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." Ouch.  I got up, got my  iPad out and read James 4.

Lessons from the Gym

"You going to the gym today?"  This was a frequent question around my parents' house this summer while we were vacationing in America.  For my husband's birthday, I bought him, my mom, and myself a one month gym membership. While exercising, I couldn't help but think of Paul's saying how "bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come" (I Timothy 4:8).  In I Corinthians he talks again about disciplining his body in order to lead the life that he should live (9:27).  I believe that one reason he uses this terminology in relation to our Christian walk is that it is easy to make parallels between the physical discipline of exercise and the spiritual disciplines.  Looking back on that month of exercise, I learned some lessons that apply to my Bible reading as well as to other areas of my spiritual life.

The Care and Feeding of Tweens

Of the three of us girls who write for Maidservants of Christ, I have the oldest child.  At 12 my brown-eyed girl is all of our vanguard into the world of tweens.   I've been exploring the ways that I can bring our Whatsoever Wednesday model to life for her.  

As homeschoolers, we've always studied "Bible" a bit like we did math.  Get a curriculum, read the material, do the exercises.  I've long thought of Bible as the most interesting academic topic I've ever studied.  That's not a terrible way for an introverted nerd to relate to the Word of God, but it is limited.  As I've grown, I wanted her to grow too-in service, in study and in heart.

Faith and Imagination

Have you ever thought about the role imagination plays in your faith?  Um...not me.  

I am girl with imagination.  Tons.   When my girls were babies I spontaneously made up dialogue for them and spoke both parts.  My husband contends that they were early talkers out of self-defense.  My kids have survived many a long bus or train ride by begging, "Tell us a story!" I am a long-term lover of novels, poetry and finding the pictures in clouds.  

But when I recently read Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster, I stumbled with some suspicion over his emphasis on imagination as an important part of meditation, prayer and Bible study. "Isn't using our "imagination" the exact opposite of knowing the truth?  We don't need to "imagine" things about God," I mumbled to myself, "because he revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ." 

An Electronic Fast

Isn't it annoying when someone uses technology to tell you that you are using too much technology?  Like a Facebook post about how we all spend too much time on Facebook?  Yeah, it's obnoxious.  So I'm not gonna do that.  Not exactly.   What I am going to do is to tell you why I decided that I needed an electronic fast, and what taking one day off from electronics did for me.  Understand that I don't think everyone who has a Facebook account spends too much time on it, nor do I think everyone needs to take a day off technology. This is about confession, not judgment. 

The Presence of God

I am currently reading a Christian classic, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.  It's a fascinating glimpse into the life of a man whose career culminated in washing dishes and fixing sandals. He seemed remarkably satisfied. 

I started reading it because it is the foundational work in the spiritual discipline called "presence."  I first learned about it when I read Holy Parenting.  I saw references to it on a blog or two and then recently when I read Celebration of Discipline the book came up again.  So, I looked it up on ccel.org (an online mostly free library of Christian Classics) and started to read.

Who Does She Think She Is?

Constructive criticism.  Advice. Reproof. Correction.  Instruction.  We have a lot of words, both Biblical and secular, to describe this process of correcting an erring sister. Yet despite all the language surrounding the issue, I wonder how much of it is actually going on?  Of course, if reproof is being done correctly, I would never know if someone else has been corrected because it would be private (Matthew 18:15).  Yet no one outside of my husband has ever taken me aside to reprove me, and I'm positive I've needed it through the years.  I'm inclined to believe that this kind of loving, patient correction has become rare in the church.

Walking Back to God

We can recognize an emergency, right?  We'd never let a situation slide without recognizing the moment of no return. Then comes the moment that the doctor says, "It's colon cancer/ liver cancer/ lung cancer." Or our husband comes home, papers in hand, and says, "I want a divorce."  And we wonder where was the moment?  How many times did we say to ourselves, "I should eat/drink/smoke less." or "I ought to work harder on my marriage"? 

Have you ever thought, "I used to be closer to God." I have. Even worse there have been times that I have let that thought play over in my mind for weeks, even months and done nothing to regain the lost ground.  

This is an emergency. I don't want you to look up and say, "Wait?!  How did I get here? I did not mean to leave God behind!  How did sin push me into this mess?"  If you've had the nagging thought, "I wish I was closer to God again," today's the day!

Getting Off My Rump

Sometimes I am frustrated by the fact that the Bible doesn't give us black and white answers for every situation.  Even in the spiritual disciplines, the Word can be vague.  We are commanded to give, but how much? The Bible emphasizes the importance of prayer, but when is the best time?  For me the most maddeningly hazy area of Scripture is parenting.  I would love to open my Bible and find a verse that says, "When thy 2 year old child shall throw herself on the floor, thou shalt ignore her.  Verily, if she continues to wail and gnash her teeth, the rod is what thou shalt use." 

Kneeling at the Throne

When I was a kid we went to church.  Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night - we were there.  Every gospel meeting, ladies day, VBS and workday, our van was in the parking lot.   I can't recall my sister or I ever questioning the habit.  There was no need to ask - we went to church. 

More Blessed

Of all the spiritual disciplines, I think giving is the one we like to hear about least.   A preacher can do all the sermons he wants about Bible study, fellowship, and prayer, and we all nod our heads.  However, if he dares to get up and do a lesson on giving, it seems most of his audience will be wondering what building project is in the works or perhaps which stingy person he is aiming to reach.  I have been guilty of this very thing.  When my preacher starts talking about giving, I look at the wall where our budget and weekly contribution numbers are posted.  We must have fallen behind, right? What I've forgotten is that just like the other spiritual disciplines, giving is for my benefit and growth.  

The Things We Didn't Talk About

Yesterday one of my sister's skyped me. My husband and I were very involved in the church where she worshiped right after she became a Christian.  We had many a late night phone conversation, many an evening Bible study, many a dinner together.  She came and cooked for us when our "baby" was still a baby. She's an old friend.

The Life You've Always Wanted

After Melissa and I decided that we'd write a series on spiritual disciplines, I began to search my Bible.  Immediately I saw a glaring problem: the term isn't mentioned at all!  I couldn't find a list of "spiritual disciplines", no rules for when and how to practice them. Then I remembered years ago I had read John Ortberg's The Life you've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for ordinary people. When I reread it, I remembered why it was my favorite. Rather than laying out a long list of things we should feel guilty for not doing, Ortberg is practical and committed to the ideas of freedom and joy.