For what are you grateful?
The month of April is upon us and I just finished my "Gratefully." This is an expression the kids throw around easily and have done so since 1 January, 2012. This year we rolled out a new project with our family. During the Christmas holidays the kids and I went to a small shopping centre (Chi Fu) to purchase 2012 planners. We bought the very small ones for Tess and I, while the kids got the next size up to make it easier for them to write. No, we have not abandoned the calendars in our iPhone and Blackberry. We use the planners for our "Gratefully Project."
For the month of January the project started off with the kids and ourselves, each day, writing three things for which we were grateful. Each day the sentence starts off with, "I am grateful to God for…" The kids stuck with the project with no prompting. Remarkable.
In February the project shifted slightly – the daily Gratefully consisted of two things for which we were each grateful and one person we each thought we needed to forgive. Forgiveness can be difficult for anyone. The kids know what it means and with some trepidation typically hand out forgiveness when they upset each other. At the end of each day we often hear stories of little tit for tats at school, which is why we added forgiveness onto the Gratefully Project. Now each day we write, "I am grateful to God for _______ (two things) and I forgive ______." Even if the kids feel they cannot forgive someone at that moment, they will still write someone that they know they need to forgive in their heart.
What I find most remarkable about the Gratefully Project, is how willing the kids have been to partake. Now we are into April, everyone is up to date, and the kids rarely need to be reminded. In fact we don't prompt them at all.
"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Ephesians 4:31-32
