Teaching Kids GratitudeSample

The Gratitude Race

“Ready, set, go!” I flipped the game board hourglass over as my husband and kids immediately began scribbling on the sheets of paper I’d placed before them. Picking up my pen, I joined our informal competition to write down as many things as I could that I was grateful for before our time was up. We had thirty seconds to make our lists and then were going to compare notes to see how many different items we could come up with as a family.

My ultimate goal was to create a list that I could type up, print out, and hang on our bathroom mirrors and on the pantry door that concealed our frequently used microwave. The list would serve as a reminder to each of us of the many blessings we enjoy.

The game results were along the lines of what I expected. Our lists began with similar entries related to family, food, shelter, friends, and the like. As we each got further into our lists, we started including items unique to our interests, our circles of influence, and our experiences. We started general and became increasingly specific as the timer slowly ran out. We tallied the items that were on all of our lists before sharing the rarer, individual items and the why behind including them. It was a fun experiment and one we’ll repeat on occasion.

This game was a lovely reminder that even though we are members of a close-knit family living under the same roof, God loves us as individuals and gives us personalized blessings, inviting us into our own deeper relationship with him. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made, known to him even as we were knit together in the womb. It was an unexpected but profound takeaway as a lighthearted exercise in gratitude suddenly veered into deeper spiritual territory than I’d originally anticipated.

Julie

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Conduct a gratitude race with loved ones. Compare your lists, acknowledging similar items but also hunting for those things unique to how God loves you.