on gratitude.

The alarm goes off and I frantically try to find my phone to turn it off.  Another day of wrangling the kids to and from school, keeping the house in order, and checking things off my daily to-do list has begun. Today, there is a lot on the list.  I'm not entirely sure I will get it all done (anybody have some extra hours they can send me? ha ha!) The days can seem so overwhelming and discouraging at times.  The never ending laundry, grocery shopping (I'm pretty sure I'm raising a heard of elephants some times instead of two boys!), household chores that I never seem to have time for, projects I want to finish (and some that I want to start).  Then, add in commitments and volunteering and the occasional discipline problem or sick kid.  It is so easy to just loose that joy when we look at the list and wonder just how we are going to tackle it all or even get a breath in. 

One of my favorite verses says, "Be joyful always , pray continually, Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  

It brings so much encouragement to think that in the midst of folding towels and doing dishes I can find joy.  I can find things to be thankful for.  Some days are more difficult than others.  I mean, some days are just bad.  Once I start looking for things to be thankful for. . . even on days where I have to reach way down deep, my attitude shifts.  That desire to complain, whine, or even quit goes away.  It is almost instantaneously replaced with joy.  Suddenly doing dishes and folding clothes just doesn't seem that terrible.

As I raise my boys, I want them to learn to be thankful.  I want them to grow into men who find love God and find joy in the small things.  I want them to be more than just polite boys who say their pleases and thank yous.  I want them to seers who are thankful for the easy things as well as the hard, seemingly insignificant things.

A few years ago, I decided to make a Gratitude tree.  I found an old vase, stuck some play dough at the bottom, and thrown a branch in.  It was huge.  It wasn't the prettiest thing, but my oldest, who was probably in kindergarten made everyone who came to visit write something they were thankful for.  He wanted to see others participate in our new tradition.

A few years have passed and I am honestly not even sure I did it last year.  I don't know.  But, I was looking for inexpensive fall centerpiece for our dining room table.  My first and second ideas didn't pan out.  So, I brought back the gratitude tree. They boys were so excited!  As soon as they saw it they wanted to start writing.   Watching the boys think of things they are thankful for was inspiring.

Ethan's first tag was that he was thankful for Armadillos.  While that seems a bit odd, we had been to the zoo the evening before and they were incredibly active.  He said they reminded him of giant caterpillars.  He was watching.  He was thankful.

Weston was so excited he wanted to write two down.  He thought and thought and finally came up with paint.  He loves creating and painting is one of his favorite things!  He also came up with food that he can eat (when you have food allergies. . . food often is just not that exciting).

This year I cleaned out a can (I HAD to make something with pumpkin to be able to use the can), and let it dry overnight.  I wrapped with with some jute and tied a bow around it.  Then, I went out to the backyard and clipped a few leaf-less branches off some of our trees and stuck them in the can.  Super easy and it didn't cost me anything because I had all the stuff.

Then, I found some paper in my paper stash and stamped some gratitude words down and tied some bakers twine around to make the tags.  Super easy.

It's so easy that you can do it, too.  It's never to late to start keeping track of things you are thankful for!