Pure Thankfulness

I'll be spending a few days with An Ordinary Hausfrau participating in 30 Days of Thanks.

I teach three classes at our Homeschool CoOp on Thursdays. I teach Choir for 1st - 3rd grade, Home Design & Decorating for Jr. High & High School girls, and Handbells for 4th-8th grade.  By the end of the morning I'm tired to say the least, but I get such joy being in the classroom!  I look forward to every Thursday with my students.

This summer when I was praying about what to teach in my classes, the Lord impressed upon me to begin each class period with devotions. I balked at first since we only have once a week to study and prepare for a concert, but when I realized I had an opportunity to share the Word with over 50 kids every week it dawned on me that there could be lasting impact from the devotions far more than anything else I would teach them. Saying "yes" to the Lord seemed like a "duh!"

Today our devotions centered around being thankful. I asked each student to share one thing they were thankful for and to use the month of November to practice thankfulness.  Their answers were sweet.  Many said they were thankful for "God," "Jesus," "my parents," which is wonderful, but I had to coax a few younger kids to really think about something.  One little girl was complaining about her brother and I said, "Ok, let's think of something you could be thankful for regarding your brother." She answered, "Well, he gave me half of his candy bar that he won for saying verses in church." I said, "That was very generous of him, wasn't it?" She answered, "Yes, but ..."  I immediately was struck with the thought about how often in my own mind and heart I say,  "I'm thankful for ____, but..."

This month I think I'll try to just be thankful (period). No buts...

No "thanks for bringing me flowers, but you know I don't like those kind." (Yep, I've said that!)

No "thanks for sweeping the floor without being asked, but how about your other chores?"

No "thanks for cooking dinner, but what about the mess you left behind?"

No "thanks for fixing _____, but when will you get to ________?"

This month I think I'll just practice "Thank You!"

Sharing devotions with my students might have more of a lasting impact on me, don't you think?!