Cultivating An Attitude of Gratitude

A little over two months ago, I found myself unable to sleep.  So, I climbed out of bed and headed to the couch to begin searching the Scriptures.  The past few days had been incredibly loud and stressful in our home with my three kids picking on each other and complaining about their various school assignments.  What would start as a joke would inevitably end with whining and fighting.  I was completely frustrated since none of my solutions, like grounding or adding more chores, seemed to make a bit of difference in any of their attitudes. 

As I spent time with the Lord in the very early of hours of the morning, I began to reflect on Colossians 2:6-7, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,  rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."  Then I remembered a quote I heard several years ago by Pastor James Macdonald of Harvest Bible Chapel; "If your faith isn't changing you, what makes you think it is saving you?"  So I began to wonder,  "Are my children actively growing in their faith, and it they aren't, than what can I do to help them?"

Then a light bulb went off.  We would start a gratitude journal.  I decided that every morning, after we read the Bible, I would begin asking each of my kids two questions:

                                                   1) What are you grateful for today? and

                                                   2) What is God doing in your life?

The only rule is that no one can repeat an answer to either question.  

Since we've started doing this every weekday morning, I've noticed a huge change in my kids attitudes.  After the first couple of days, they had to do more than scratch the surface with their answers and really think about these questions.  I've seen God move in their lives like never before and I know all of us are much more aware of God's activity because we take time every morning to reflect on what He is doing.

Another really cool result of of the journal has been watching my kids become more aware of the needs of others.  In fact, they told their cousins that this year, instead of buying Christmas gifts for each other, they wanted to buy gifts for children in need through the Compassion International gift catalog.  

We've really found that taking time to reflect on God's goodness, as well as His presence in our lives has given all of us a proper perspective and a heart of gratitude.  Perhaps you may want to pull out a spiral notebook and start your own journal, especially in view of the fact that we're about to celebrate Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks.