I have always loved the focus on Thankfulness in the month of November. Even though I know we should be thankful all year, there is something about a themed month of thankfulness is just fun to do. So, today I am sharing a few ideas I had that could help you have a thankful practice in November.
First, let’s focus on why we should be thankful. I know there are a lot of things that are coming at us each day and life can certainly be hard. However, even if all of the junk is filling your life, if you do take some time each day to be thankful, it truly does change the tone of your day. Choosing to be thankful for the little things, even if it is as little as you were able to brush your teeth today, really does make a difference. The more we look at things through a grateful heart, the more joy comes out of our life.
Today I read a short devotional about when Paul and Silas were in prison. If you don’t know the passage, you can go here to read it. Even though they were in prison, and prison back then was just completely awful, they spent time in joyful praise to the Lord. I don’t know about you, but I am not sure I would be singing praises when I had been beaten and stuck in a rat infested prison, but they did. A practice of gratitude helps us see beyond ourselves and our current situations and helps us focus on all that God has given us. It does seem unnatural, but I promise, when you look for something to be thankful for, it will shape your day for the better.
Make a Thanksgiving Tree.
One fun way to focus on giving thanks is creating a thankful tree. You can do this as fancy or as simple as you want. All you need is to create some form of a tree, a drawing, painting, or actual tree branches in a jar and a bunch of leaves. You can either have the leaves cut out it in different colors, paint them on the tree or find another creative way. The idea of the thankful tree is to have each person in the family write down what they are thankful for on a leaf each day. So, by the end of the month your tree will be filled with everything you are thankful for during the month.
You can make this as simple or detailed as you want. So, those who are really artistic, you could make this a keepsake forever. If you are painting a tree on a canvas, you can have everyone write down or share what they are thankful for and then you can transfer them on the canvas when you’re ready.
If you want, get a poster board and draw out a tree. Make some leaves and as you write what you are thankful for on a leaf, you can glue them to the tree. What is fun about this is everyone can be involved. As you think of something you can grab a leaf and stick it on the tree. Have fun with this and share them with us on our Flourish page.
Thankful Journal
If you don’t want to do an art project, find a journal and write down what you are thankful for each day. There are all types of ways you can do this. I practice gratitude every day in my morning routine, but you can make a journal specifically just for November if you want. If you want to have a gratitude journal that you can keep all year. My friend Laura Miller has a great one. You can find that here.
Thankful List to album
Okay, you don’t want to journal and you don’t want an art project, what if you just put a piece of paper on the fridge and a pen next to it. Anytime anyone thinks of something to be thankful for, they can write it down. Then at the end of the month, take a picture of it and you will have your thankful album started. What is fun about this is you can have everyone’s handwriting on there. It is like a double keepsake. If you have little ones, this will be fun to see what they write.
Post a Thankful Thought
With so much yuck in our world, what if we flooded social media with thankfulness? You could share something you are thankful for every day in November on social media and encourage others to share as well. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to see gratitude posts every day? One little positive word could be an encouragement to someone else!
I would love to hear your thoughts on how to spread thankfulness in November. Please comment and let me know your idea. Or, share it with us on the Flourish page, You can even post what you will do on social media and tag me. I would love to see what you are doing and be in thankfulness with you. 🙂
Happy Thankfulness Spreading!!