Thankful Tree

It all started with a talk. The question was asked, "What is the best season of life?" An experiment was conducted. Several age groups were asked to stand up only to discover that each age group was at the perfect age.

How often do we let each day pass without experiencing the joy we are here to experience. "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." How often do we wish time would pass in hopes that life may in some way be more enjoyable down the road. What kind of message do we send our kids about how we live our lives. Is adulthood enjoyable? In short, are we taking advantage of every minute, finding joy in the now?

This was a huge wake up call for me. This is the time for ME to really enjoy. I need to change my attitude. Too often I get down because I can't keep up with life. My to-do list gets larger instead of smaller. I seem to focus on the things I don't get done instead of the things I do. Too often I leave off the daily tasks I do on a regular basis forgetting that they were on my to do list even though they weren't visible. I should celebrate what I have accomplished instead of what I haven't. I need to remind myself to celebrate at the end of the day when I FINALLY schedule a dentist appointment for myself to get my teeth cleaned.

Instead of becoming irritated when Ty decides to wake up at 4:00 in the morning I can be excited to get a jump start on the day and spend some quality time with him. I can get upset when our car decides to break down costing us a fortune that we don't have or be grateful that it can be fixed. We will still be able to get where we need to be. We have a car and are fortunate to have this luxury. In short, I need to be grateful for this experience. I need to enjoy the ride, the good and the bad. I need to have an attitude of gratitude. What a way to start the month of November.

In order to focus on our blessings we made a thankful tree (an idea we got from church). We gathered sticks for family home evening and made leaves. Each leaf has a blessing we are grateful for. The kids thoroughly enjoyed this activity. It might have something to do with gathering sticks and actually keeping them in the house. Tasha even shared this activity at Share Day in school.



Below you will find a list of our blessings in no particular order. Instead of focusing on our blessings the day of Thanksgiving (which, unfortunately, tends to be the case). I was truly able to focus on our blessings every day this month. The tree was a great reminder to all of us that we are truly blessed. It ended up being a long list (thankfully). Click on the picture below to read.