Dear Ones,
May you have a blessed day! This morning I have my exercise class and this afternoon Craft time which gets to be more of catching up with everyone over coffee time, and tonight is Bible Study.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  How good are we at living in gratitude and also modeling it for others? I get several devotionals sent to my e-mail each morning and one by Stacey Monaco struck me as she wrote on ways to cultivate thanksgiving in our grandchildren. Just recently when I was at Craft time, one of the gals was putting together an intricate little library kit made out of tiny pieces of fine wood for her granddaughter. It was very time consuming and is turning out beautifully, but I wondered if she would get a thank you in return. Many of the grandparents share that they rarely get a thankyou from their grandkids, and one not even given after receiving a car!
  It seems that gratefulness is caught more than taught. The apostle Paul said in Eph 5:20 that we should always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That verse is for us also! We are to be thankful in all things and be examples of His love to others.
   Stacy gives several ways we can help our grandkids live a life style of giving thanks. We can start by expressing thankfulness to our grandkids for what we see in them. It can be something specific, and as their ears hear it, it will likely stay with them. One of our grandsons is very good in art and we are thankful for the gift God has given him. Stacy wrote we might want to take our grandkids out in nature, perhaps the woods, and express gratitude and awe to our Creator as we collect pinecones etc. Or we might read stories together that express thanks and trust in God; most church libraries are full of books like that. We might want to give them a gratitude journal and have them write down things they are thankful for. Or perhaps at a meal time, go around the table and have each one express thankfulness for something or someone. If we have young grandchildren, we could decorate a small tree with lights and have them attach colored paper leaves that they have written something they are thankful for. Or decorating a jar and having them fill it with words of thanks. We can be creative!  Three of our grandsons are 6’4” and we hug them and tell them we love them when they come to visit. Once a month I love to send personal cards to all 8 of our grandkids.
   Let us all have daily rhythms that exemplify gratitude and be examples to our grandkids to express thankfulness.
  Challenge for today: Cultivate thanksgiving in your own heart and let it spill out on others!
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy