At Home Menu: Gratitude

This is a menu - don’t try to eat it all! Pick one or two suggestions to try at home.

“Gratitude isn’t just a nice attitude, it’s honesty. Gratitude is a recognition of all that we have. When we are grateful, we know that we did not earn or are not responsible for much of what we have.” - Rev. Amelia Richardson Dress

“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything God has given us—and God has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love, every moment of existence is a grace.” - Thomas Merton

Printable menus are below.

For Adults

Appetizer: Getting hungry for spiritual practice
- Everyone is somewhat grateful, but to become more grateful intentionally is hard, because it requires us to receive from others, and it’s hard on our egos to admit we have benefited from help.
  - How easy is it for you to ask for help?
  - How do you feel about “owing” others?
  - What are some ways you could practice more vulnerability, in order to receive more gifts to be grateful for?
  - Have you had any life experiences that intensified your sense of gratitude?
Main Course: Tasting the practice
- Brene Brown writes in The Gifts of Imperfection, “Without exception, every person I interviewed who described living a joyful life or who described themselves as joyful, actively practiced gratitude and attributed their joyfulness to their gratitude practice.” Find some old magazines and make a collage out of images of all the things you have in your life that bring you joy. Hang your collage as a reminder or paste it to the cover of a notebook you can use as a gratitude journal.
Dessert: Using the practice to sweeten my life
- Gratitude journals can fall into a rut of listing the same things each day, deadening instead of renewing our wonder and thankfulness. Ann Voskamp, author of 1,000 Gifts writes, "Slapping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving over everything in my life leaves me deeply thankful for very few things in my life… Life-changing gratitude does not fasten to a life unless nailed through with one very specific nail at a time." Here are some ways to spice up the practice of keeping a gratitude journal:
  - “Choose to find enough for any one moment,” recommends Rev. Amelia Dress. Instead of keeping a daily gratitude list of what you are glad to have in your life in general, instead pause at different times of day to give thanks for all that you are tangibly experiencing in that very moment.
  - Instead of making a list of things you’re “grateful” for, instead make an “enough list,” journaling about what you have enough of (and what you don’t have enough of!).
  - Journal about memories, things you have experienced in the past that made you feel grateful. Try to let those feelings rise up in you again.
  - Try using a different journal prompt each day for 30 days.
Digest: Absorbing the meaning of the practice
- Read Chapter 5, “Gratitude: The Joy of Enough,” in The Hopeful Family: Raising Resilient Children in Uncertain Times by Amelia Richardson Dress (available on Kindle)
- Watch Diana Butler Bass, author of Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks

For Youth

Appetizer: Getting hungry for spiritual practice
- How grateful are you? Take the quiz.
- To find things to be grateful for in your day, notice how one person’s action influences those around them. Try this journal prompt: “My day (or life) is better because…” Example: “My day is better when everyone says ‘hello’ when they walk in the door.”
Main Course: Tasting the practice
- Make a gratitude list in the style of an awards acceptance speech. (You know the kind, “I’d like to thank the Academy, and my manager, and the other cast members…”) Think of something you’ve accomplished and make a list of all the people or circumstances that helped you achieve it. [You can even make a recording of what you write, and share it with those you would like to thank.] - From The Hopeful Family: Raising Resilient Children in Uncertain Times by Amelia Richardson Dress
Dessert: Using the practice to sweeten my life
- Find a “gratitude mentor” in your life. Who do you know who practices gratitude well and contagiously? How could you learn more from that person? - From https://www.crcna.org/FaithPracticesProject/gratitude
Digest: Absorbing the meaning of the practice
- A grateful person is not always happy. In this article, Bonnie Gray shares a practice of being thankful in the hard things too. She writes that, in addition to listing the good things, you can also say: I’m thankful that...
  - I can be in need, so I can go on a new journey to find comfort.
  - I can feel sadness, so I don’t have to live separated from my heart.
  - I don’t have to want suffering, but I can choose to embrace it. Because God doesn’t see it as shameful.
  - I can fall apart, because Jesus carries me when I’ve gone as far as I can go.
  - For God’s promises: I’ll never abandon you. I’m never going to leave you.
  - I can finally stop to look at my wounds and investigate how they got there.
  - I’m learning to say no in ways I’ve never dared—to say yes to me and yes to God.
  - I can remember the dreams I’ve given up, so I can ask God if any can be made new again.
  - I can ask God, “Is it too late?” and still doubt, because God is faithful even when I’m not.
  - I am finding new friends who understand that both sadness and joy can co-exist, who aren’t trying to fix me.
  - You don't have to be happy to be grateful.

For Kids

Appetizer: Getting hungry for spiritual practice
- Pick some things you’re grateful for in your life, and draw them:
  - Draw something that makes you happy.
  - Draw something you couldn’t live without.
  - Draw someone who helps you.
  - Draw something that makes you smile.
  - Draw something you love to do.
  - Draw something you are thankful for.
  - Draw someone you love.
  - Draw something you think is fun.
  - Draw something that makes you feel good.
  - Draw something that makes you laugh.
  - From https://letslassothemoon.com/gratitude-drawing-prompts/
Main Course: Tasting the practice
- Try playing some gratitude games!
  - When you play a card or board game that involves a dealer, turn it into a gratitude game by finding different ways to say “thank you” each time you receive something from the dealer. This works great with Monopoly, when you say thank you for each new thing you acquire in the game.
  - Grab a handful of popcorn and say one thing you’re grateful for for each kernel. Better yet, pop a bag of popcorn in the microwave, and shout something you’re grateful for each time you hear the sound of a kernel pop.
  - Play the “Best Thing” Game. Think of a person, a situation, a place, and take turns saying things like “The best thing about _____ is _____.” Example: “The best thing about my church is the music we sing.” To help spark ideas, get a pack of popsicle sticks and write down people’s names, places, pets, etc. Place the sticks in a jar, and draw one stick out each time you play the game. - From https://buildfaith.org/gratitude-with-children/
Dessert: Using the practice to sweeten my life
- Promise your parents that you will write a thank-you card every time you receive a gift. Ask them to buy you some fun cards or stationary to use for this! You can also send an “anytime” or “just because” thank-you note to someone who is important to you. Rev. Amelia Dress recommends, “Be as specific as you can in naming what they did or how they [help] you.”
Digest: Absorbing the meaning of the practice
- "Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." - G.K. Chesterton

For Families

Appetizer: Getting hungry for spiritual practice
- Gratitude is really good for your health, according to this university research summary.
Main Course: Tasting the practice
- Keep track of God’s good gifts using a format that works for your family. Some ideas: keep a family gratitude journal; jot your thoughts on sticky notes and post them on a Gratitude Wall; express your thankfulness on paper strips placed in a Gratitude Jar; write or draw things for which you are grateful on a paper tablecloth. Save your lists and drawings and revisit them at Thanksgiving, on New Year’s Day, or anytime you’d like a reminder of God’s goodness in your lives. From: https://network.crcna.org/faith-practices/5-ways-grow-grateful-kids
- Download this handout by Traci Smith for more fun gratitude practices for families.

Print out this gratitude placemat for young kids to use during Thanksgiving dinner.

Dessert: Using the practice to sweeten my life
- Pair a focus on gratitude with times of worry for your children. Each time you talk about a worry, see if you can spend the same amount of time focusing on what is good together. - Adapted from The Hopeful Family: Raising Resilient Children in Uncertain Times by Amelia Richardson Dress
Digest: Absorbing the meaning of the practice
- Gratitude is a complex skill for kids, who do not have life perspective and who live in the moment, making them prone to feelings of disappointment. Kids also often have more than they need, which ironically makes it harder to feel grateful. Be gentle and joyful as your whole family learns this attitude together.
- “As Christ-followers, we don’t just practice gratitude because it’s good for our health (although it is!), or only when things go smoothly. Our gratitude flows from an awareness that, regardless of our circumstance, God loves us and is with us.” - From Five Ways to Grow Grateful Kids