Thankful for Breakfast: Lessons in Child-like Gratitude
When I taught first grade, I loved this time of year leading up to Thanksgiving. It meant I could get out all the cute turkey crafts and lead my class in making fun charts and graphs of things for which they were thankful. There’s something so precious and innocent about the thankfulness and gratitude of six year olds. I remember smiling as one little boy waxed poetic about how thankful he was that his mom let him have a muffin for breakfast. Then the rest of the class chimed in and talked about how thankful they were about their breakfasts too. We added everyone’s breakfasts to our gratitude chart.
Looking back on that memory stirred something deep within my heart. It’s been a little while now since I’ve taught first grade. My last few years have been a whirlwind of difficult, painful pregnancies, postpartum depression, and the day to day stress of caring for a toddler. Little by little, I realized the gratitude in my heart has been replaced largely by a dull resentment. I often find myself focusing only on the negative in my day-to-day. Instead of rejoicing in gratitude that my little girl loves to help me in the kitchen, I grumble over the flour she dumped everywhere. I can easily wipe up the flour, but I fixate on the negative.
I don’t want to be this way. I don’t want to be a grouchy mom, a nagging wife, and an unhappy friend. I really want to harness the gratitude of a child, and re-introduce that joy back into my own heart. I want to glow with thanksgiving over the small details of my day, like the banana bread my two year old helped me make, which we later enjoyed for breakfast.
Annie Gagliardi, @candidlycomposed.
Thessalonians 5:18 instructs us to, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I read this, and my attention keeps circling back to the phrase, “in ALL circumstances…” We are called to give thanks not just when everything is going well and according to plan in our lives. We are called to give thanks even when life is frustrating, messy, and sad. We are called to give thanks when it is boring and plain.
“How am I even to begin giving thanks in ALL things?” I ask myself. After some prayer and consideration, I realize the best step forward to reviving that child-like sense of gratitude in my heart is to intentionally pause and say, “Thank you, God.” I’ll say it when I open my eyes in the morning, because I am given the gift of a new day. I’ll say it when my toddler makes a mess of my kitchen, because she is a beautiful, healthy little girl. I’ll say it when I’m feeling tired and bleh, because I have an opportunity to grow in virtue and put others’ needs before my own.
This November, my prayer is that we all open our hearts to receive the innocent gratitude and thanksgiving of a child. That in ALL things, we give thanks, even if it’s over something as mundane as what we ate for breakfast.
Meet Marissa Federline
Blog Manager & Voices Writer
Marissa is a wife to a husband who makes her laugh on the daily, and stay-at-home mama to a daughter who really embraces the “terrible twos.” She spends her days coaxing her toddler to get down from the table, reading historical fiction, and baking sourdough bread. She’s an introverted soul who focuses on finding God in the little moments of life. You can find her on Instagram @stella_maris_creates.