As we are now on our last Sunday before all the final preparations will be made to either welcome guests into your home for dinner, or to pack everyone up to go visit family or friends in their homes this Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a good time for us all to sit down and make our “Thankful Lists.”

Every year on the last Sunday before Thanksgiving, my family sits down and talks about the current year and all we have to be thankful for. This has always been such a blessed time of joy and laughter—and yes, even some tears from time to time. We’ll read Scripture verses about thankfulness and about the Lord’s faithfulness to provide all we ever need. Sometimes, we may even break into a song of praise!

Topping our lists each year are always family and friends. After that, it is usually thankfulness for some situation that the Lord has seen us through—many times when things looked completely hopeless from a human perspective. We also remember and are thankful for the lives of those who have passed from our presence and into the presence of our Lord.

We take these lists to the dinner table on Thanksgiving night and throughout the meal, we have plenty of laughter as we recount all His faithfulness to us. We be sure to let our guests know in advance that we will be doing this so that they too can be prepared. We try to keep it light-hearted and fun, but it is absolutely OK if someone sheds a tear or two. Most of the time it is just a joy to hear all the ways our children remember His provision—even things we have forgotten. Of course, many times they are thankful for a toy or some privilege they received, and that’s great! The point is to get them thinking about God’s grace poured out on us all the time so that Thankfulness becomes a way of living. Our prayer is that through this little tradition our children will have the seeds of the hope of Christ rooted deeply within their hearts for eternity.

Finally, prepping our hearts this way on the Sunday before Thanksgiving has a way of calming all the last minute craziness and busy-ness. We can be like Martha—fussing and fretting; or we can learn the lesson Mary knew so well: it was greater to sit at the feet of her Master in complete adoration. Seek Him first and His kingdom first, and “all these things shall be added unto you.”

What ways do you remember to be thankful? What traditions does your family have that teach these important things to your children?

What are you thankful for this year? Please let me know by commenting below.