The Gratitude Game

As a Mom of two young girls I am humbled by how often my kids are the ones teaching me.

Today was no exception.

As my six year old and I were driving she declared we would play the “Thankful Game”.

Although I could fairly easily determine the rules of this heretofore unexperienced game she went on to explain we would take turns saying things we were thankful for.

She threw the gauntlet down with her first turn

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I am thankful for Jesus dying for our sins because without that we would not be able to be here like this.

Wow okay.

Proud Mom moment.

My second born runs either hot or cold so either she is churning out profound thoughts like this or I am trying to keep her from running in to traffic.

It’s a charmed life we lead.

I tried to follow her lead and expressed my thankfulness for our wonderful church family where we could worship Jesus together.

Her second turn – wood.

She’s thankful for wood because we can turn it in so many things. Oh and her third - trees that have sap because that becomes syrup.

I felt a little less pressure at this point like I could throw out some standards - running water and clothes. Over the course of our twenty minute drive we covered a lot.

Some of our things were big – food, water, our house, school, our family, friends, medicine, sunshine.

Some were small – playing memory, soccer, hugs, the fall colors, our car, smiles.

What the game did for my day was remind me to ground myself in gratitude.

To practice gratefulness.

If we do not consciously discuss, bring to mind, praise God for and acknowledge the legion of blessings in our lives it is too easy to miss them.

To focus on the things that we would change, the real difficulties that we all deal with. Whether it comes in the form of health struggles, relational difficulties, career problems or so many others.

Recognizing our blessings does not negate or ignore our struggles but it does correct the focus.