Character Counts:
Teach Them to Be Thankful

I will close out the mini-series, “Character Counts” with some thought-provoking lessons about being thankful. To me, November is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the characteristic of being thankful to your children. Teach them to be thankful for all of the blessings God gives them on a daily basis. Have them make a list and then help them to see the blessings they have not yet learned to recognize. Help them to understand they should also be thankful for things that did NOT happen to them.

“O give thanks unto the Lord…” Psalm 107:1a

This time of year, everywhere you go, and all you see points to Thanksgiving. All of these should serve as reminders to keep an attitude of thankfulness. Be verbal and tell others, “thank you”. See how many times in a day you can genuinely tell someone.

If you don’t think it is important to model thankfulness, I challenge you to make a purchase somewhere, anywhere. Today’s standard for cashiers seems to be, “Here you go” or to hand you your change or receipt and say nothing at all. I know, I am old school, but I believe employees should say, “Thank you” to the customer. Society gives us this and so many other examples of how to not show thankfulness. Even the Bible tells us that 9 out of 10 lepers did not thank Jesus when He healed them.

Use analogies: think of the dishwasher magnet…
one way it says, “Clean”, flip it over and it says,
“Dirty”. It has to be one or the other. It is the same
way with thankfulness. If you wore a magnet,
which side would be up?

I know not everyone can see in your heart and mind to know if you are thankful or thankless, but God knows.

“…for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” I Samuel 16:7b

Let’s start a movement to be thankful!
May God bless you and your family with a grateful Thanksgiving!