One of the realities of being a Christian parenting blogger is that you often find ideas you wish you had done with your children. Our daughter is a young adult now, but I wish I had known about this when she was younger.
A friend of mine actually created this gratitude idea for herself at first. She was on an extended mission trip in Africa without her family. Feeling a bit lonely and discouraged, she started a gratitude corner in her rented living quarters. It was a very visual reminder of God’s love and care.
Since then, she has gifted her grandchildren with the materials to start their own gratitude corners. The best thing is that this activity can be done on a child’s bedroom door or in a hotel room. It is portable and easy for everyone in the family to create their own or have one large family gratitude space.
Want to add even more meaning to your gratitude corner? Spend time thanking God in prayer for the things your family has added. Talk about the blessings and how you saw God working to make them happen. Have discussions with older children about things we think are negative in our lives that may be things we later realize needed to be added to our gratitude corner – because we grew spiritually or experienced some other blessing from what seemed like only a negative experience.
Want to add some more practical Christianity to your gratitude corner? What about doing something special for the people you mention in your gratitude? For a bigger challenge, challenge your kids and your family to give others something for which to be grateful to God. Serve these people in secret. Give them supplies to start their own gratitude corners and point them to God.
Have fun with it. Use it to change hearts and attitudes from complaining and whining to gratitude. Make your gratitude corner an ongoing lesson for your kids about God’s loving care for us. It’s worth your time and effort!