Gratitude 101

Today is Monday and time for a weekly tradition and practice, Family Home Evening. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are asked to gather with our families each Monday night for time together. Sometimes we have fun-filled activities, but usually we have lessons about principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Today we started by singing “Count Your Blessings”, followed by a touching prayer given by Mason, then into a lesson on Gratitude. The idea came from the March 2011 issue of the Friend, a First Presidency message given by President Eyring. The article entitled “Count Your Blessings”, go ahead and read the article it’s short and to the point.

I reviewed the story of Moses and the Israelites. The kids knew everything up until the crossing of the Red Sea then the facts got hazy for them. Leah kept trying to tell the story, but she was missing information---like the Lord feeding the Israelites with Manna from heaven. We had to remind her of the importance of listening. ;) She simmered down, thankfully.

What I wanted them to take away from the story of the Israelites is how they were continually blessed by God but they often forgot and would have to repent before they would be blessed again.

To help all of us remember how blessed we are by the Lord we have each started a “Gratitude Journal” that we will begin to write in each night. Here are the kids entries for tonight, verbatim:

Leah:

What has God given us? He gave us school and Parants.

I am greatful that we have a school because I can learn new things evry day. I am also greatful for parants because they are loving & give us a lot of atenchen & they are the best blessing I’ve ever had.

Mason:

I am thankful that I love my Mom, Dad, brother and sister.

Owen:

I am thankful for…

• the story of Moses
• bed
• Church (playing with friends, teachers who teach me [Flakes])
• Jesus Christ
• the run to school this afternoon
• toys [blocks, dress-ups]
• ghos-tez [the Holy Spirit]
• dogs, like Stella [Friberg] and Ty [Cooper]
• wiggly worms [putting them on my finger and watching them wiggle, wiggle wiggle like t-h-i-s…(image a quickly swaying Little Man)]
• Leah & Mason coming home from school
• Mommy & Daddy
• Spencer Friberg---my bestest, super-duper friend!

Following President Eyring’s guidelines here are 2-3 good things that happened today:

1. I was able to go back to bed from 8:45am-10:25am, while Owen watched shows on Netflix. [I woke with a migraine that was quite mind-numbing. I could barely see straight and it had banished the nice-Mommy to oblivion, leaving the mean-Mommy in control. My poor kids this morning before school. ***Blessing- I was restored to the point that I could function. I was still miserably, but the mean-Mommy was replaced by a reasonable-Mommy.]

2. Mason’s prayer to go along with Family Home Evening. [Whenever he prayers I KNOW he is thinking about what he is saying. The Spirit is tangible and a smile is always left on my face.]

I know that my Heavenly Father was watching out for me and my children today. Owen was safe with no parental supervision. Mason’s prayer helped to set the tone for our lesson tonight. All of my children sat and listened to me tell the story of the Israelites, A-MAZE-ING! I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of a loving Father in Heaven who watches over and loves me and knows me.