It’s the most wonderful time of the year… a time we can bring God so much glory by enjoying the love story between Him and us. A story we want to share with our kids over and over every Christmas because it’s the greatest love story ever told- that the God of the universe would want to come down from Heaven and be with us!
One of my favorite things about Christmas is the spirit of love and generosity that embraces our hearts this time of year…We tend to look for ways to bless others by serving together as a family, and by doing so we are blessings Jesus in the process. Serving others with our kids not only demonstrates the heart of God and shares His love with His people in the process, but it is a great way to develop meaningful family traditions and foster a strong family identity.
Every year as Christmas creeps closer and closer, I am filled with anticipation for the joy of the season, but also anxiety sets in as I wonder if I will be able to get everything done in time. From preparing kids for Christmas plays, to hosting and attending parties, to determining the perfect gifts for each family member… it’s a crazy time of year!
What do your kids love about Christmas? Mine love decorating the Christmas tree (my husband’s least favorite part), making, icing, and eating Christmas cookies, and spending time with their cousins… Christmas is fun and full of exciting activities, but with so much to look forward to, if we are not careful, it can become easy to loose sight of the main reason for Christmas.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s fun to think of something special to give our kids to celebrate the occasion. I enjoy giving my kids Thanksgiving books and books about thankfulness. Reading books together on thankfulness is a great way to encourage our kids to be thankful and get them excited about celebrating Thanksgiving!
I hope you enjoy this devotional designed for ages 4-8 to teach your children how to have a thankful heart. Read the italic section or paraphrase with your children to fit their age level. -Taylor
The month of Thanksgiving is the perfect time to cultivate a heart of thankfulness in our children. With the remembrance of the pilgrims and how God helped them through their trials, we can appreciate how much God has blessed us and thank Him for all He has done in our lives too!
Living in today’s modern world, we have a great number of parenting websites, blogs, and resources available at the tip of our fingers. While this can be a good thing for so many reasons, it can also feel like searching for precious gems amidst the rocks and debris surrounding them, and then determining if the gems truly hold value.
Arielle Lewis is an amazing mom and woman of faith who has a passion to help people with disabilities find acceptance and thrive in their lives and communities. She has been a special education teacher, special needs director, consultant, and more recently, God has given her a beautiful second daughter named Charlotte, who happens to have Down syndrome. She and her husband started a blog, The Lewis Pride, to help people see ability differences through “mighty eyes,” and they started a non-profit, The Mighty Waffle, a career development center that offers jobs and internships for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as providing education to the community about disabilities .
If we are teaching our children to be followers of Jesus, we must teach and encourage them to help others! Children naturally love to help, yet we often get so involved in what we need to accomplish as parents that we forget to include our children when we are serving. We can give them age-appropriate opportunities, and we can model what it looks like to help others, so they can learn to show God’s love by meeting people’s physical, monetary, emotional, and spiritual needs.
