Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Blessing Box

So have we solved the secret of happiness?
"I believe so" he said
Are you going to tell me?

"Yes. Ready?"

Ready.
"Be satisfied."

That's it?
"Be grateful"

That's it?

"For what you have. For the love you receive. And for what God has given you."

That's it?
He looked me in the eye. Then he sighed deeply.

"That's it."

(excerpt from the book 'have a little faith' by Mitch Albom)

It's so easy to get wrapped up in life.
Wrapped up in self.
In wanting more.
It's also easy to forget to see blessings.
To be ungrateful. Unsatisfied.

I have been so guilty of this.
I want with all my heart to be aware of what is right in front of me.
What I've been given.

As a family we are going to try to focus on being thankful.
One way we have decided to do this is by making a Blessing Box.
(can't take credit for coming up with this idea. I saw it HERE awhile back. This is just our spin on it.)


We will write down all our blessings (financial, physical, spiritual and everything in between) as well as personal achievements, funny stories, growth, talents, goals reached. Big and little. Anything really, that we can say thank you for. At the end of the year we will take it out and praise God for all that He has done for us throughout the year.

Here's how we made it:
I found this photo box at the dollar store. Yippee! But you could use anything- a jar, a box, a bowl... whatever works :)


Next, instead of putting a picture, we took scrapbook paper and my little guy wrote out the verse we chose to focus on as a family this year and put it in the frame.

"Praise the Lord I tell myself and never forget the good things he does for me" Psalm 103:2

Then we wrote out a few things on index cards that we are thankful for.


I love seeing my little guys writing on some of the cards, and plan to have the girls draw pictures for things that they are thankful for.
:)

I am so excited to change our way of thinking and focus on being thankful.
To grow and teach our kids about true happiness... as we learn to embrace it ourselves.

"To be satisfied.
To be
grateful For what we have. For the love we receive.
And for what God has given us."

11 comments:

  1. I really love this idea! I may do it with my family. I definitely want my kids (and myself!) to live a life of gratitude.

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  2. What a GREAT idea! We may have to copy this one too!!!!

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  3. This is wonderful. And I love seeing the verse written in E's writing. What a sweet treasure to keep in and of itself!

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  4. Love it! What a special way to remember your blessings and praise God for them -- and also to build a heritage of faithful prayers and thanksgiving to God! Awesome.

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  5. I LOVE this!! love love love this... what a wonderful idea. we have done something similar at Thanksgiving time but i love how this is something on going all year long.

    i will be doing this for my family.

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  6. great idea sara. causes me to think of the scripture "i will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart, i will enter his courts with praise."
    i know, KNOW, if i want in there i have to come with thanksgiving and praise, but lately i've been rain, rain, rain!
    i will be thankful today.
    and i will try again tomorrow.

    today i am thankful for you dear blog friend. you are so delightful, so encouraging. you have such a beautiful, tender, intentional heart. you look like jesus (in canada).

    much love!

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  7. This is wonderful. What a fabulous idea... I think this will be implemented in the Fortin household.
    Thanks for sharing!

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  8. what a splendid idea! not only acknowledge it by writing it down and putting in the box but looking back later on to see the blessings... a great memento too.

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  9. This is an amazing idea. I can't wait to introduce it to my kids...and I think it will help me too :) What a blessing YOU are Sara!

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  10. what a splendid idea! not only acknowledge it by writing it down and putting in the box but looking back later on to see the blessings... a great memento too.

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  11. Again thanks for all your great ideas! I will definitely do this with my kids!

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