Gratitude
From Dr. Shannon Whiteside
When my kids were younger, we started a gratitude journal. Each morning, I would go around the table and ask them what they were thankful for. As I look back over some of their responses, I smile at the simplicity of them. They were thankful for pillows, instruments, birthdays, cows, and smoothies. They were just listing the ordinary things of life that we take for granted. But what if we took the time to be grateful for those ordinary things? Research shows that taking the time to think about what we are thankful for, whether by way of a “gratitude journal” or other gratitude practices, has positive effects on our physical, psychological, and social well-being. Check out this article for more information: Why Gratitude is Good.
Charlotte Mason also had something to say about gratitude.
Some people have the grace to be tenderly and reverently thankful to the author of a great book, the painter of a great picture––thankful, if less reverently so, to the discoverer of a great invention. What daily and hourly thanks and praise, then, do we owe to the Maker and designer of the beauty, glory, and fitness above our heads and about our feet and surrounding us on every side! From the flower in the crannied wall to the glorious firmament on high, all the things of Nature proclaim without ceasing, ‘Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty’” (Ourselves, p. 100).
Head on over to The Hive for today’s Fabulous Friday post and share what you are grateful for–whether big or small. You can even ask your children and share their responses, as well.
Notes
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