Highlights:

This episode will encourage you to find the true purpose of the season.

In all the busyness and preparation for this one day, we often get sidetracked from the point of it all.

There is a way to keep the grumbling at bay and put a spin on gratitude. It only takes a bit of thought and creativity, though, to reframe your mind.

We discuss creative ways to find gratitude — even in the midst of all the busyness:

You can be grateful for living in a country where you can freely call this a day of Thanksgiving to God, a day to worship, give thanks and love your neighbor.
You can be grateful for the internet and video chats, especially for families who live far away or have elderly parents.
You can be thankful for the exhausting grocery trips. Consider what it used to take to get a meal on the table!
You can be grateful for your busy husband. Take a view from his perspective.
You can be thankful for your home and even the mess that comes with the holidays. Can you imagine not having a home or food or gifts?
You can be thankful for your cars and the gas to run them. Even though they’re expensive, at least we have the luxury of easy travel.
You can be grateful for your noisy, mess making children. For before long, they will be grown up, doing what you’re doing. And then…they’ll come make messes at your house during the holidays! 😊

So many reasons, and such blessings abound if we take the time to think, to get creative, and to take a good long look close enough to see those blessings.

Time to Think:

So, it’s your turn!

➡️ List out the ways you can reframe your thoughts even in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the holiday!

Words to Remember:

Grateful: adjective – feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness. Thankful.
Synonyms: thankful, appreciative, beholden

Terry Covey @ Living Above the Noise:

“God created you to do good work right where you are, and that work makes you even more valuable to your husband, your kids, and your community. I’ll help you not just survive each season of Womanhood but thrive!”
“For large families like ours, by the time kids get married and develop their own family culture — then you gather together, it’s like a big pot.
Sometimes it can be boiling — and other times it creates an aromatic stew, so to speak, where different personalities with different strengths and different weaknesses and views on life like parenting, and marriage styles — gather together and share a common day or two or even a week.”

“Getting to know new people is so good for us. It helps us to love others well, and it helps us to burn off the dross of our wrong thinking or judgments or misunderstandings.”
“There is a way to be grateful for the mundane tasks of life.”
“So many reasons, and such blessings abound if we take the time to think, to get creative, and to take a good long look close enough to see those blessings.”

Bible Verses Cited:

“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God”. 2 Corinthians 10:5

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17

“And from them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry……” Jeremiah 30:19

Resources:

To help reframe your thoughts — download my Think – Pray – Plan – Do pdf here.

Think about all you heard today. The thoughts and questions and dreams and ideals you have.

Pray about those to determine what’s most important and valuable.

Make a Plan to implement those beliefs and values. Write them on a white board or get them printed on a wall hanging. The most important thing is to put them in front of you so you won’t forget them. So you can implement them daily and discuss them over dinner or when you need to discipline a child. Or make decisions with your husband.

Do! Live them out. Make them your reality. And then watch as your family life transforms as you and your family gain the morale and confidence and trust in God’s plan for your family!

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