A Month of Gratitude Challenge- Episode 15
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[00:00:00] Welcome to episode 15 of the Christian career mom. Today, we're diving into a month of gratitude challenge for November. We'll explore the value of building gratitude habits share age appropriate activities and provide practical tips to foster a culture of gratitude within our families join us on this journey of thankfulness mindful reflection and genuine appreciation for the blessings in our lives let's make an attitude of gratitude the way of life
Hey friends, it's Katy, host of the Christian Career Mom podcast, founder of Covenant Collections, which is a company on a mission to empower parents to thrive in all things family and life, and author of soon to be released Christian children's book, Happy Are the People. Whether it's your first time listening or you've been here with us before, the Christian Career Mom exists for the working Christian mamas who desire to live purposely, grow spiritually, and create a harmonious balance between their work, [00:01:00] life, faith, and family.
We explore all the ways to tap into our God given wisdom and grace to find fulfillment in all areas of our lives. It's so important to have a supportive community to lean on, and that's exactly what we're here for. So grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink, find a cozy spot to listen and let's dive in.
I almost can't believe it, but we are very close to November. Also known as a month where we're all reminded to put gratitude front and center. There's something so valuable about building habits. Doing something for one day is great and it does make an impact. But building longterm habits can be life-changing. Let's start with a month. Let's do a month of gratitude challenge for this November, or if you're listening to this well, after the end of October, then just start the next month. It's definitely relevant and beneficial to anyone at any time. Our [00:02:00] goal here is to really establish a culture of gratitude in our families. So let's start by some foundational insights, tips, tricks, and guidance on how to do that. We're all busy. So I would aim for manageable daily activities. It's amazing to put, go serve dinner at the local homeless shelter on your gratitude calendar. And if you have time to add that in, then please do so. That's amazing. But the best way to ensure our success at accomplishing our goals is to make sure we're setting achievable, measurable goals that don't set us up for failure. So if you're working for 40 hours a week and already have plans for 90% of your days off that one, probably isn't exceptionally realistic and achievable for you. So let's stick with the things that are, which is going to vary family to family. I love including gratitude prompts when I do this challenge. And I love this because no matter what else we have going on that day, we can always make time for simple gratitude prompts. [00:03:00] They also help keep the activities engaging and a bit more thought provoking. Some examples are having a discussion where you ask one another, what's something that made you smile today or who helps you today. And how can you show your appreciation to them? Age appropriate is always a key consideration. So you'll need to tailor the challenge activities to really fit your family and keep it age appropriate. Younger kids might enjoy drawing or storytelling. Well, older kids can engage in more in-depth discussions. Ages three to six may be able to tell you three things they're thankful for, or even draw three things they're thankful for, with various degrees of help. It would be really fun if you could print pictures. Have there three things and let them color. If they're too young to draw. Ages seven to 12 can write down the things they're thankful for, whether it's a simple list of three, top three. Or [00:04:00] whether it's a gratitude jar type of activity. Random acts of kindness, work across all age groups. And some like they're the most fun activities we can include in challenges like this. Examples here can be encouraging and helping our children write. Thank you notes to people in their lives. To their teachers, their friends, family members, people in the community who were thankful for. These things mean so much to both the giver and the receiver. A simple compliment to someone is huge. We can donate toys. We don't play with anymore clothes. We can pay for someone's meal, do a volunteer activity. Our older kids can read to our younger kids. And so many other things. I don't have a gratitude challenge. Calendar created for you all, but I do actually already have a kindness calendar. That's really cute, and I love printing it out and hanging it up anytime you want to be challenged to incorporate daily acts of kindness. So if you shoot me an [00:05:00] [email protected] or just DM me on social to ask for the kindness calendar, I'll gladly share that with you. Another really fun thing to incorporate is a weekly check-in with family to discuss what their favorite challenge activity or task of this week was and which one they liked the best, which one they liked, the least these things are helpful to know about one another and can help us in the future. Or help us fill in and give guidance to someone where they may be a little weaker. It's really a team effort. These insights can also help you build a gratitude tradition where you establish a daily. Weekly or monthly gratitude tradition that your family can continue well after the challenge ends. It's always helpful to combine mindfulness with gratitude. So slowing down and spending time and thought, and prayer can really be helpful in bringing to mind all the little things we're truly thankful for in our lives. [00:06:00] And encourage genuine gratitude. Let's make sure we're teaching our children and ourselves for that matter. That gratitude isn't just about saying thanks, but also about truly feeling and understanding the value of what we're grateful for. The way that we act will set the tone for our entire families. So remember to always lead by example. And lastly, celebrate the challenge, highlight your key achievements and the number of lives you touched in a positive way through this month. Talk about your reflections, how it made you feel and how you can continue the culture of gratitude moving forward. This type of culture is so fulfilling for every single member of our families. This builds our character. It builds our relationships with one another. It makes us happier individuals in general. And it also brings us closer to God. First Thessalonians five first, 18. Tells us to give. Thanks in all circumstances for this is [00:07:00] God's will for us in Christ Jesus Ephesians five verse 20 reminds us to always give thanks to God, the father for everything. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. These scriptures reinforced that an attitude of gratitude is not only beneficial, but it's also biblical. Sometimes ideas is the hardest part. So I'm going to provide just a general idea of themes and a few examples of how you could break this down for your family. This can be followed. Exactly. Or you can just use it for inspiration, whatever works best for you. If we break it down into themes for each week, then week one could be a focus on gratitude for family. And during this week, we could do things like thank you, notes to family members. Talking about our favorite family memories, creating a family photo scrapbook with notes of what we're thankful for from each time that we've documented. Cooking a meal together and sharing why we're thankful for each [00:08:00] other's company. Helping each other with tasks to take something off someone else's plate and so on. Following the same types of activities. Week two can move into a theme of gratitude for friends. We can reach out to a friends we haven't spoken to in a while and express our appreciation for them. We can make lists of the qualities we appreciate in our friends. And we can host a friends giving meal. Make friendship, bracelets, share stories with our friends of what we appreciate most about them. When you felt most supported by them and how much it meant to you, things like that. Week three's theme could be a gratitude for nature. This week, we could spend time in nature and express our gratitude for its beauty and all the amazing things provided for us in nature. We can challenge ourselves to learn one new thing. About nature and how appreciative we should be for it and share that new knowledge with our family. [00:09:00] We can do a family outing to clean up litter. We can organize some recycling efforts, plant a tree flowers. Things like that. In week four. Our theme could be gratitude for our community. In this week, this is where volunteering for local shelters, food banks, community events, and things like that would fit in. We can write thank you notes to healthcare workers. First responders, teachers. We can support local businesses and share about the positive experience you've had with them. If you're wondering why I didn't set a theme for gratitude for God. That's because it should be incorporated every day in our prayers, in our actions and using every single daily challenge task that you complete. As a way to honor and serve God. We can add our favorite encouraging Bible verse to our thank you notes. We can put flowers with a prayer for someone at their front door, and we can thank God for [00:10:00] every single thing we have in our lives and all around us that we are able to be thankful for. Because every single thing. That comes to mind. Is because of him. So I'm going to challenge you to in the next 24 hours of whenever you listen to this. Make a simple, easy and fun, actionable step forward. Taking the first step within 24 hours increases the likelihood of following through with a task by a lot. So in the next 24 hours, your challenge is to gather your family together and explain what you're going to do. Start brainstorming the ideas and jot down a rough draft of your month of gratitude challenge. You can kind of set the tone. By sharing one thing about each person there that you are so grateful for. And then ask each of them to do the same. Definitely keep it light and no pressure so that it sets a positive tone for the challenge ahead. And shows everyone that it can be a [00:11:00] really fun and beneficial effort to put this type of effort into our attitude of gratitude. These types of challenges are so important. For living more like Jesus for being a light in the world. And also for strengthening our relationships with our children. So in light of that, I want to remind you to go grab your copy of the ultimate parent child bonding journal, which is a 59 page journal full of amazing prompts to strengthen your bond with your child of any ages. I'm posting this on October 21st, 2023. And this journal is currently free. While I collect feedback on the impact it has on your families, but it will no longer be free at the end of October. So if you're listening after that, no worries. It's still available and it's still very affordable. But it will only be free to anyone who grabs it before the end of October. Also, don't worry, I'm working on something new to release that will be free and very, very beneficial as well. [00:12:00] You can grab your copy [email protected] slash bonding, which I will link in the show notes and in the YouTube description. Okay. That's all for today. I hope you've got some awesome ideas. And I would love if you would share them with me and with our community who may really benefit from your ideas as well. You can share in the comments of this video on YouTube, or you can head over to our free Facebook community for Christian parents to share it with us there. Which I will also link. But it's available at facebook.com/groups/christian parenting community. Have a great weekend
I hope you found this episode valuable, and I pray you're walking away with a new insight, perspective, or idea to implement as you move forward in your journey. Remember that while busy is an often unavoidable state of being, it is not a badge of honor, and it is not a measure of our worth. God gives us everything we will ever need to thrive in our careers, our [00:13:00] personal lives, our families, and most importantly, our faith.
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