Thanking God for everything every night and morning is the most important thing children can do. Daily recognition fortifies their relationship with Him. It is our divine obligation to teach our children to surrender their lives to God and recognize his grace in our lives. This practice not only fortifies our relationship but reminds us that our entire life rests on Gods grace and goodness. It is difficult to end the day or begin the day on a sour note when we have given praise to the Lord before we go to sleep and when we awake.
Lord, teach me to offer you a heart of thanksgiving and praise in all my daily experiences of life. Teach me to be joyful always, to pray continually and to give thanks in all my circumstances. I accept them as Your will for my life. (1 Thessalonians 5:18-19, (Thanksgiving Prayer – 7, Crosswalk.com)
Giving thanks also requires that we begin to see our normal daily activities through a different lens. It is important that we teach our children to see God’s glorious work in everything. This is also a reminder that we have to do the same. Often as adults, we lose the ability to see through the lens of God. It seems that the world gets in our way and we focus on the demands of the day instead of seeing God’s grace in our lives.
Every morning I ask my granddaughter what she is it going to thank God for this morning. At first, it was difficult for her, it is difficult for me as well. Early on, we were redundant in our thanks, always reflecting on the same things, but when we decided that we had to look outside of our normal world view, it gave us the opportunity to objectivity view the world differently. We began seeking new discoveries that all tied back to the wonderful life God has provided if we would just look with a new perspective.
As we become more familiar with His daily activity in their lives, we shifted our accepted point of view from a worldly one to a Godly one. This is part of the metamorphosis of becoming a Young Christian Warrior.
Examples
Yesterday my Granddaughter called me into the living room. She was showing me her shadow on the wall. The amazing part was that her shadow was upside down. It astounded us. Then we recognized that the sun was shining into the room, landed on a picture sitting on an end table and then projected across the room to the wall. The transference occurred when the sun rays came through the window, landed on a glass picture frame across the room, and the light was then projected on to the wall. It was miraculous. It was a lesson of how awesome God is and a science lesson. She thanked God that evening before she went to bed.
Recently we were driving down the street, the sun and a few white clouds covered the sky. All of a sudden it began to rain. It was raining in the direction we were traveling, but not where we were coming from. This gave way to a discussion about Gods greatness. How He provides weather events to feed plant life, clean the air, and give new beginnings. The new beginnings gave way to a discussion about the rainbow that appeared shortly after the rain stopped.
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Gen. 9: 12-16)
Miracles happen throughout the day, large and small, significant and seemingly insignificant, it all depends upon perspective. Young Christian Warriors view the world out of a different lens than their peers.
For parents: Thanking God keeps everything He has done for you in your working memory. It will help you keep focus on all He has done rather than the challenges you may encounter. If our children learn during their youth to identify what God has accomplished in their lives, it will be easier to live their lives stress free. Join me in reading, Remembering All God Has Done: http://bible.com/r/2c, it will help you teach your children to identify the many gifts we take for granted as well as the times He helped us in times of need.