All things were made through Him.
Nothing was made without him.
- John 1:2
One of the lessons I tried to instill in the Littles was to be thankful to everyone, for everything. I took this just a step further by helping them to understand why they were thanking people. It was easier then I thought it would be actually, and it was fun watching them think of why they were being thankful. I remember when my mom was still alive, Grandma Shirley to Jimmy. She was very helpful in teaching Jimmy prayers. My mom made Jimmy and myself spaghetti and meatballs when he was just four years old. After dinner was over and dishes were done we sat with my mom just to visit before I took Jimmy home to his mom. Jimmy had to always sit on the arm of the living room chair my mom was sitting in. "Grandma Shirley?" , he said. "Yes Jimmy?, she responded. "Thank you for making that delicious supper for me, it was my favorite." he replied. My mom asked Jimmy what he was thankful for about that meal. "I am thankful that you spent your time to make me food and feed me. I am thankful for the people who grew those noodles and meatballs so you could make them for me. I am thankful for that cow that he gave you milk for me to drink. But mostly Grandma Shirley, I am thankful that we got to spend time together with each other. That would be good even without the food."
Thank You, God!
Busy bees and butterflies,
Flowers, trees, and stars,
Rainbows, clouds, and wiggly worms.
Fireflies in jars.
God, You made so many things,
For my two eyes to see.
Thank You, God for making them,
For everyone and me!
As we get older and we become more thankful for the things God has provided to us, we sometime forget that God gives us all we need to walk our journey on earth. There are times when we wonder how we will make it to the next day, the next hour, the next minute, in our lives when our days are dim. We ask God "why me?" We try to figure out what we did wrong to end up in the situations that we are in. Then we have days as bright as the sun and we are pleased with how well we are doing and we sometime forgot it was by God's design that our day went well. We don't always thank Him for those sunny days as quickly as we blame him for the dark and dreary ones.
It is important to help our littles in the world understand that sometimes things are not going to always be that great. That we will struggle in life and we will need to find our way back on the straight and narrow road we should be on where life is grand and all is well. The best way to teach our littles this lesson is to practice it ourselves. Each day is a gift from God and each day we should thank Him for the opportunity to make the right choices. Thanking God openly for everything he has given us, including the littles of the world, will show those littles that everything in life is a gift given to us by God. Accepting those gifts and thanking Him for them is a never ending show of appreciate and builds our faith for a future that will bring us many disappointments, only to find more satisfying gifts further down the road.
It is that simple. Without the rain there would be no rainbows of beauty, but without the sun we would never find the beauty of the rainbows. Accept what is put in front of you and be thankful for where it leads you.
