Remembering Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one holiday that avoids commercialism, brings people together, offers fantastic food, and calls us to forsake our selfishness and instead practice gratitude.  Don’t lose the spirit of gratitude.  Claim it, prepare for it, and practice the art of that holiday.

As we plan for Thanksgiving, here are a few ways to intentionally lead your family to be thankful.

1. Create a Thanksgiving tree.

Create a simple, construction paper tree with a brown trunk and several colored leaves. The goal is for every person present at our house on Thanksgiving to have five leaves.

Following the Thanksgiving meal, pass out the leaves and pens. Each person writes one thing for which they are thankful on each leaf. After a few moments, go around the table and read our leaves. They don’t have to all be spiritual or serious things. A typical year may include gratitude for health, friends, or jobs - as well as action figures and tickets to Dollywood.

Tape the tree and leaves onto a prominent wall in your house, leaving it up for several months.  It serves as a regular reminder of God’s blessings.

Remember some spiritual heroes.

Take time to teach your children about spiritual heroes - and also to take time to remember some of our own heroes in our lives. Don't just let these days float by as missed opportunities while the culture is already trying to make money off of Christmas.  Redeem this time and use it as a stepping stone into the holiday season. Spend time learning some new spiritual heroes - and being thankful for some familiar ones.

Talk around the supper table about a godly person from history.  Or, share some stories from your own pilgrimage about heroes in your life.  The website Christian History Institute is a great resource.  For several years I have used Barbara Rainey’s book Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember to teach our children about the spiritual heritage we have as Americans from the Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving.

Engage in meaningful conversation.

One educator said we live in a day of hurried loneliness.  We have hundreds of Facebook friends but not two with whom we think and share deeply.  Families rush from one activity to another.  People go to Grandma’s house, eat lunch, and then bury their heads in their phones. To some people, the idea of a family sitting down together and leisurely sharing a meal is an idea from a Norman Rockwell painting.

Dads and Moms, we must plan to make meaningful conversation happen.  The word intentionality is a great one to challenge us parents.  Without intentionality, family devotions, meaningful conversation, and disciplines of thanksgiving won’t happen.  We will just stay busy. 

This Thanksgiving, stop for a few moments and make a plan.  Ask, “How will I intentionally help my family practice gratitude the next two weeks and have some meaningful conversations?

That will produce beauty greater than the autumn leaves.

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