Posted in Train Up A Child Thursday
In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. I Thess. 5:18
We talk a lot about the heart in our house, as in "what kind of a heart is it that does not answer Mommy when she calls you?" "A rebellious heart!" And so on. I really want my children to understand that all of our words and behaviors flow out of the heart, so I try to draw their attention there when we have our little talks!
One heart area that we work on is cultivating a "thankful heart." The Lord tells us "in Everything give thanks. Everything?? That's often hard for us as adults! So I'm hoping to make it easier on my children in the future by training them to automatically think this way when they are young. But how does this look to a young child?
Take hurting yourself by accident as an example. How many times during a day does a child (and adult...) stub a toe or bang an elbow or drop something on their foot,etc. What's the knee jerk reaction? For me, it can be a struggle to keep my mouth from uttering what is spilling from my heart when I cut myself or drop a dish full of baby food on the floor or whatever it is! So here is what we try to do. Give Thanks!
I have explained to my kids in the past what it's like for people with nerve endings that don't work properly, people who don't feel pain. These people lead a very difficult life! Pain is a good thing that tells us to stop doing something (like touching a hot stove) or to be more aware of where our bodies are in space (so we don't bump our elbows) or go seek help (if we have a toothache or other ache that a doctor can help us with). If we couldn't feel any pain at all, few of us would reach adulthood with all of our body parts still working correctly!
So when I stub my toe, I make myself say "Thank you Lord, my body works the way it's supposed to!" And I coach my children in this as well. It's ok if you are not FEELING very thankful on the inside, it's that self-control thing again! Squashing down your feelings will not turn you into an neurotic, repressed, schizophrenic individual. Squashing down those ungodly emotions and feelings will lead to your sanctification and holiness in the sight of God. The beautiful aspect of this little exercise is that it actually gets easier the more you practice
. It works that way for your children as well.
In any negative situation, I try to find Something to be thankful for, and encourage the kids to do that as well. (Sometimes when we're sitting in traffic, one of my children (certainly not ME) will complain about the long wait. One of the others invariably pipes up "we're practicing our patience!" So we can be thankful for opportunities to practice those sorts of things. Or thankful that we have a nice warm car to wait in!)
And there are other ways that we cultivate thankful hearts. It's good to practice giving thanks before all meals both at home and in public, our children have practiced this from an early age, it doesn't phase Lukas to bow his head in a restaurant and give thanks. (The girls are still a little shy at times!). It's good to practice showing thanks by "making" them write (or draw) thank you cards for friends and relatives who send gifts or show other kindnesses (we have a long list on the fridge right now that we are working through from Christmas!). It's good to practice cultivating a thankful heart by "making" them say Thank-you to adults who pay them little compliments or give them little treats (in our home, if a child "forgets" to say Thank You for a little treat that is given to them, they lose the freedom to have that treat).
And on and on! There are a hundred ways every day to show thankfulness. If we have an unusually warm winter day and we all go out to ride bikes, whom should we thank?? At bedtime during evening prayers, whom should we thank for the things we take for granted like a warm bed and comfy blankets?
Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:6 that godliness with contentment is great gain. Contentment starts with a thankful heart!
We talk a lot about the heart in our house, as in "what kind of a heart is it that does not answer Mommy when she calls you?" "A rebellious heart!" And so on. I really want my children to understand that all of our words and behaviors flow out of the heart, so I try to draw their attention there when we have our little talks!
One heart area that we work on is cultivating a "thankful heart." The Lord tells us "in Everything give thanks. Everything?? That's often hard for us as adults! So I'm hoping to make it easier on my children in the future by training them to automatically think this way when they are young. But how does this look to a young child?
Take hurting yourself by accident as an example. How many times during a day does a child (and adult...) stub a toe or bang an elbow or drop something on their foot,etc. What's the knee jerk reaction? For me, it can be a struggle to keep my mouth from uttering what is spilling from my heart when I cut myself or drop a dish full of baby food on the floor or whatever it is! So here is what we try to do. Give Thanks!
I have explained to my kids in the past what it's like for people with nerve endings that don't work properly, people who don't feel pain. These people lead a very difficult life! Pain is a good thing that tells us to stop doing something (like touching a hot stove) or to be more aware of where our bodies are in space (so we don't bump our elbows) or go seek help (if we have a toothache or other ache that a doctor can help us with). If we couldn't feel any pain at all, few of us would reach adulthood with all of our body parts still working correctly!
So when I stub my toe, I make myself say "Thank you Lord, my body works the way it's supposed to!" And I coach my children in this as well. It's ok if you are not FEELING very thankful on the inside, it's that self-control thing again! Squashing down your feelings will not turn you into an neurotic, repressed, schizophrenic individual. Squashing down those ungodly emotions and feelings will lead to your sanctification and holiness in the sight of God. The beautiful aspect of this little exercise is that it actually gets easier the more you practice
. It works that way for your children as well. In any negative situation, I try to find Something to be thankful for, and encourage the kids to do that as well. (Sometimes when we're sitting in traffic, one of my children (certainly not ME) will complain about the long wait. One of the others invariably pipes up "we're practicing our patience!" So we can be thankful for opportunities to practice those sorts of things. Or thankful that we have a nice warm car to wait in!)
And there are other ways that we cultivate thankful hearts. It's good to practice giving thanks before all meals both at home and in public, our children have practiced this from an early age, it doesn't phase Lukas to bow his head in a restaurant and give thanks. (The girls are still a little shy at times!). It's good to practice showing thanks by "making" them write (or draw) thank you cards for friends and relatives who send gifts or show other kindnesses (we have a long list on the fridge right now that we are working through from Christmas!). It's good to practice cultivating a thankful heart by "making" them say Thank-you to adults who pay them little compliments or give them little treats (in our home, if a child "forgets" to say Thank You for a little treat that is given to them, they lose the freedom to have that treat).
And on and on! There are a hundred ways every day to show thankfulness. If we have an unusually warm winter day and we all go out to ride bikes, whom should we thank?? At bedtime during evening prayers, whom should we thank for the things we take for granted like a warm bed and comfy blankets?
Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:6 that godliness with contentment is great gain. Contentment starts with a thankful heart!
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