“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
~1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)~
I’d love to tell you that giving thanks in all circumstances comes naturally for me. But the truth is, I often struggle with being thankful. I take blessings for granted and grumble about things that at the end of the day really don’t matter. And when life gets tough, it’s easy to focus on all that’s going wrong and to miss beautiful moments in the midst of a storm.
Two years ago, my family began the Thanksgiving Tree tradition. Our hope with this tradition has been to slow down during the month of November and give thanks each day for the blessings in our lives. Sometimes this means searching and finding blessings during those difficult circumstances.
2012 Thanksgiving Tree (before leaves added)
As part of this tradition, my son and I create a tree with barren branches either on a bulletin board or a poster board. Then throughout the month, each family member jots down what they are thankful for on leaf cutouts, and we glue them to the branches. At the end of the month, our once barren tree is filled with colorful leaves proclaiming all that we are thankful for.
It’s an amazing month-long journey to discover how much we truly have to be thankful for.
Please come back each Thursday this month as I explore what it means to BEE Thankful! :0)
I am really wanting to do this with my family this year. I think I’ll be running into archivers tomorrow to do some leaf die cuts. I find the first week is easy as you think of all the typical things, but then it gets harder to come up with the things that you are really thankful for on a daily basis.
Charlotte, I’m so glad you stopped by! I hope you find the Thanksgiving tree a good way to focus on thankfulness. It’s been a highlight for our family as we go into the holiday season. And I agree with you that the first several days are easy to think of what you are thankful for, but as the month goes on, it becomes more difficult and makes you dig deeper to see how truly blessed you are.
This is such a cute idea! I might be stealing it from you 😉 Can’t wait to see it completed!
Thanks! If you decide to do this activity, I’d love to hear how it went. :0)
Thank you for sharing with us this ‘thankful’ post! I too have to learn to give thanks to our Lord in all circumstances. And thank you for subscribing to my blog.
Thanks, Dicky! I’m looking forward to reading your blog!
This is such a beautiful idea. Definitely something for me to remember once we start having kids. What a great way to remind them to count their blessings and to teach thankfulness.
Thanks, Sarah. What I particularly enjoy about this activity is the creative and genuine things that my son comes up with. I remember one year he said he was thankful for corn. That made me giggle. :0)
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