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2. What Matters to You - Monday Evening · Family Prayer Podcast

• 0:00
  Good evening, Grace Harbor.
• 0:02
  It's Dan. How are you?
• 0:05
  How was your day?
• 0:07
  My day was fantastic!
• 0:09
  Can I tell you that I'm still
• 0:11
  buzzing with excitement over the launch of this little podcast?
• 0:15
  I have no idea how many people are listening today.
• 0:19
  It may just be you!
• 0:21
  But you know what?
• 0:22
  Even if it is just you and your family, that's enough
• 0:26
  because this podcast is for you.
• 0:29
  And just about everything in life seems to start small, doesn't it?
• 0:34
  The biggest tree in the Grace Harbor Pine Preserve started
• 0:37
  as a tiny seed inside of a pine cone.
• 0:39
  Do you remember our question from this morning?
• 0:43
  It was: What is something you're really looking forward to today?
• 0:48
  Do you remember your answer?
• 0:51
  Take a moment as a family
• 0:53
  and remind each other what you were looking forward to.
• 1:05
  Now, if you recall, the thing I was looking forward to
• 1:10
  was celebrating the start of the podcast with a chocolate chip cookie milkshake.
• 1:14
  And even though it is quite chilly outside today, it's my favorite treat in town.
• 1:20
  And it was delicious.
• 1:23
  Did the thing you were looking forward to happen?
• 1:26
  Did you see your best friend?
• 1:28
  Did you eat that special lunch?
• 1:31
  Did you get to do that fun activity after school?
• 1:34
  My guess is that for a lot of you, the thing you were looking forward to
• 1:39
  did happen, and I hope it was everything you were dreaming of.
• 1:43
  In fact, sometimes things turn out even better than we expect.
• 1:48
  And that's definitely a reason to celebrate.
• 1:51
  Don't just let the moment pass you by like it was some normal day.
• 1:55
  When good things happen, let's call them out.
• 1:58
  Let's high-five. Let's be grateful.
• 2:01
  But I also know
• 2:03
  that sometimes days don't always go the way we planned.
• 2:06
  Maybe our friend was sick and missed school.
• 2:09
  We opened our lunchbox and it wasn't what we were expecting.
• 2:13
  Or it was raining, and the trip to the park was canceled.
• 2:17
  What a bummer, right?
• 2:19
  Or sometimes the thing we were looking forward to did happen,
• 2:23
  but it didn't end up being as good as we hoped.
• 2:26
  Our best friend was at school, but we got into an argument.
• 2:30
  The lunch just tasted a bit off.
• 2:32
  Or you went to the park and you weren't feeling it.
• 2:36
  That's a bummer too, isn't it?
• 2:38
  You know what?
• 2:39
  It's okay to be bummed if all our hopes from this morning didn't come true.
• 2:44
  One of the most important things we'll learn over time
• 2:47
  as we practice these disciplines together
• 2:50
  is that they aren't a way to make life go the way we want.
• 2:54
  We can't force other people to do what we want.
• 2:57
  We can't control things like the weather.
• 2:59
  And especially for the kids listening, there are days when your schedule,
• 3:04
  your family schedule is going to be something that the adults in your life
• 3:07
  put together for you.
• 3:09
  But one of the reasons we think about our day ahead of time
• 3:13
  is that it helps us be intentional.
• 3:16
  Do you remember what intention means?
• 3:19
  We said this morning that intention is thinking about
• 3:21
  how we want to do things, not just what we're going to do.
• 3:25
  And when we do that, we can learn and grow, even when things don't go our way.
• 3:32
  I know a lot of you love school.
• 3:34
  I also know there are probably some of you who really enjoyed being off
• 3:38
  for Thanksgiving last week, and waking up for school
• 3:42
  these last couple of weeks before Christmas break...
• 3:44
  That is not your idea of fun.
• 3:47
  But this morning you identified something to look forward to.
• 3:51
  No matter how excited for the day you were or were not.
• 3:56
  And you want to know something cool?
• 3:58
  The thing you were most looking forward
• 4:00
  to tells you a little bit about yourself.
• 4:04
  The things we get excited about,
• 4:06
  they're like clues to who we are and what matters to us.
• 4:10
  For me, the fact that I wanted to celebrate
• 4:13
  getting just one podcast out into the world must mean
• 4:16
  I think our time together is going to end up being really important.
• 4:21
  Take a moment now as a family, to share
• 4:25
  what you could learn about each other from the things you were looking forward to.
• 4:29
  And again, adults, why don't you go first?
• 4:31
  You can share what you learned about yourself or about someone else
• 4:36
  in your family.
• 4:37
  If you need more time, you can pause the podcast
• 4:40
  and I'll be right here when you get back.
• 5:12
  I hope you all had an answer to share, because learning something about ourselves
• 5:17
  helps us get better at loving ourselves and one another.
• 5:21
  Okay, before we say goodnight,
• 5:23
  let's close by thinking of one thing we can be grateful for.
• 5:28
  You don't need to share it out loud,
• 5:30
  but think of something you want to say thank you to God for.
• 5:33
  It could be something simple like, “thank you that tasty milkshakes exist.”
• 5:38
  Or something personal like, “thank you for my family
• 5:42
  who's with me right now.” Or you could go super general like my daughter
• 5:46
  likes to do and say, “thank you for the world and everything you made.”
• 5:50
  Once you have something in mind that you're grateful for,
• 5:54
  go ahead and say a quiet thank you to God in your heart.
• 6:01
  Let's pray together.
• 6:03
  If you want to, you can close your eyes or fold your hands.
• 6:08
  “Dear God, we thank you for this day and for all of your blessings.
• 6:12
  We thank you for the things we were looking forward to,
• 6:15
  whether they happened or not, because they teach us
• 6:18
  a little bit about the person you made us to be.
• 6:21
  We pray that you would give us a good night's sleep so that we can wake up
• 6:25
  tomorrow rested and refreshed and excited for a brand new day.
• 6:30
  Amen.” All right.
• 6:33
  Good night, Grace Harbor.
• 6:34
  I'll talk to you in the morning.