Children’s Time: What do you give thanks for to God, today?
Good morning.
Today is Thanksgiving Sunday. I remember one chilly afternoon around Thanksgiving two years ago when I went to pick up my son in kindergarten. The children’s paintings were stuck up on the windows with scotch tape, along with the children’s answers to the teacher’s question, “What do you give thanks for?” I bet that some of us may have done that activity in school this year, thinking about what we give thanks for. But I would still love to hear it from you now. Let me change the question little bit. “What do you give thanks for to God, today?”
(Receive the answers.)
Would anyone like to ask me the same question?
I give thanks for the fall leaves all around us, on the street, in the yard, on the church stairs, in the forest, on the road, everywhere. They did their best when they were on their trees through the spring and the summer; they helped the trees to grow by receiving the sunshine with their whole selves. Trees can grow only when they get enough sunshine, and they have to have enough leaves to turn the sunshine into enough food to keep them alive and growing. Only then can the trees produce the oxygen that we need to breathe. The faithful, hardworking leaves were joyful through the spring and summer, and now they’re adding their beauty and their strength to our earth.
Last Tuesday when I was driving my car to church, the wind blew the leaves all over the place; some of them even hit hard on my car’s windshield – Tah, Tah, Tah! I didn’t complain, but rather, I gave thanks to them, and to our God for having created all of the leaves and us, and having made our every moment special. We live in God’s world; we all are in God’s hands, supported by God’s love. We can trust God’s world, do our best like the leaves do, and give thanks for every moment. Will you pray with me?
Dear God, thank you for the (children’s answers) and the leaves. Thank you that we can trust you and love you. Amen.
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