Latest / Family Prayer Podcast / 13. Gratituesday - Tuesday Morning

Transcript

13. Gratituesday - Tuesday Morning · Family Prayer Podcast

• 0:00
  Good morning, Grace Harbor, it’s Dan!
• 0:03
  I hope your morning is off to a great start so far.
• 0:06
  I woke up today super excited to finally share the idea
• 0:11
  our family has been loving, and I think you're going to love it too!
• 0:15
  But first...
• 0:16
  Let’s talk about holidays.
• 0:19
  There are, of course, the big holidays that almost everyone celebrates.
• 0:23
  The one on all of our minds right now is Christmas.
• 0:26
  But there’s also Easter and New Years and Valentine’s Day.
• 0:31
  Sometimes, there are ones that are unique to your home country,
• 0:35
  like here in the United States where I live, we have holidays
• 0:39
  like Labor Day, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving.
• 0:43
  But did you know that pretty much every day is some kind of holiday?!
• 0:48
  I mean, every day is someone’s birthday - tons of people’s birthdays, actually.
• 0:53
  So, if your birthday is today - Happy Birthday!
• 0:57
  But there are also lots of little holidays that celebrate
• 1:00
  all sort of things big and small, normal and quirky.
• 1:05
  I happen to LOVE these little holidays, and I’m always looking for a reason
• 1:09
  to celebrate, so we’re going to highlight a bunch of them here on the podcast.
• 1:14
  Can anyone guess what today is?
• 1:17
  It’s National Christmas Card Day!
• 1:20
  This is not only a day to celebrate sending and receiving Christmas cards,
• 1:25
  but it’s also a great reminder that, if you want to send someone
• 1:29
  a Christmas card and you haven’t dropped it in the mail yet,
• 1:32
  you better get on it!
• 1:33
  Christmas is getting close, and time’s running out!
• 1:37
  There are all sorts of Christmas cards.
• 1:40
  Some have Santa on them.
• 1:41
  Some have Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus.
• 1:45
  Some are funny. Some are serious.
• 1:48
  And then there are ones
• 1:49
  like my family sends, which are kind of like family updates.
• 1:53
  We have a nice picture of everyone and it includes
• 1:56
  a short letter sharing what we did over the last year.
• 1:59
  Hey, here’s a fun idea.
• 2:02
  Why don’t you take a moment and have everyone in your family
• 2:05
  answer this question: If you could send a Christmas
• 2:08
  card to anyone, who would it be?
• 2:11
  It could be someone you know, or it could be a someone famous you admire.
• 2:16
  Go ahead and share your answer, and if you need more time,
• 2:19
  you can pause the podcast.
• 2:21
  I’ll be right here when you get back.
• 2:47
  Here’s the cool thing.
• 2:54
  I would guess that for just about everyone you named,
• 2:57
  there probably is a way to send them a Christmas card!
• 3:01
  If it’s someone you know, that should be pretty easy.
• 3:04
  If it’s someone famous, ask your adult to do a quick internet
• 3:08
  search, and I’ll bet you can find an address for fan mail.
• 3:12
  Now, remember, especially with famous people,
• 3:15
  they get tons of mail, so you may not hear back from them
• 3:19
  - but that’s not why we send Christmas cards, is it?
• 3:23
  We send them as a gift.
• 3:25
  A way to say hi.
• 3:27
  A way to say that we are grateful for you.
• 3:30
  And speaking of gratitude, it is NOW TIME
• 3:34
  to finally share the special idea I’ve been teasing.
• 3:38
  When we started practicing gratitude as a family, it started
• 3:41
  super simple - just naming things we were grateful for.
• 3:45
  Then we started to write them down, creating a gratitude
• 3:48
  list for our family - which is something cool you can do too.
• 3:53
  We began to add them
• 3:54
  to our prayers because all of these things and people and experiences
• 3:59
  we were grateful for - they’re gifts from God.
• 4:03
  But then my wife came up with this amazing idea: What if we picked out
• 4:07
  someone we’re grateful for, and found a way to let them know?
• 4:12
  You see, sharing gratitude multiplies its impact.
• 4:17
  When you tell someone you’re grateful for them, it makes them feel so good!
• 4:21
  And it might even inspire them to practice gratitude too.
• 4:25
  We decided that the right rhythm for us would be once a week,
• 4:30
  and that’s how Gratituesday was born!
• 4:33
  Cool name, huh?
• 4:34
  Again, my wife gets all the credit.
• 4:37
  So now, we have our own little family holiday,
• 4:40
  and we get to celebrate it every week!
• 4:43
  On Tuesdays, we pick out a person or even a local business
• 4:47
  we love and find a way to let them know before the week is over.
• 4:51
  For example, last week, my daughter painted a picture for someone
• 4:55
  from our church who had given her an early Christmas present.
• 4:59
  Today, it’s very cold and drizzly, but I cannot wait
• 5:03
  to drop by the coffee shop and thank Bobby, my favorite barista,
• 5:07
  for always making me a hot cup of coffee when I need it most!
• 5:11
  Perhaps after school this afternoon, since it’s National Christmas Card Day,
• 5:16
  you could make a special gratitude-themed Christmas card for someone you’ll see
• 5:20
  later this week, and your adult can help you get it delivered.
• 5:24
  Ok, let’s pray before we head off into our day.
• 5:28
  If you want to, you can close your eyes and fold your hands,
• 5:31
  but remember, God hears wiggle prayers too!
• 5:35
  “Dear God, we want to say ‘Happy Gratituesday’ to you first.
• 5:41
  All of the good things in our lives are gifts from you.
• 5:45
  As we share our gratitude with others,
• 5:48
  may it be a way of showing your love to others as well.
• 5:53
  Amen.” Alright, friends!
• 5:55
  Happy Gratituesday, and I’ll talk to you tonight!