Two Thanksgiving Family Devotional Ideas

Thanksgiving devotional idea:

One morning this week, I took a glass, set it in a bowl, and started pouring milk into the cup until it overflowed and started filling the bowl. My children watched me with mingled awe and horror, thinking I was both brilliant and crazy at the same time. We read Colossians 2:7: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, . . . overflowing with thankfulness." We talked about how we want to be a family that has so much gratitude, it spills out everywhere, and we discussed ideas for how we can express thanks to God and to other people. It was a fun, simple devotional that took about five minutes . . . and as an added bonus, it tricked my kids into drinking extra milk, because afterwards, I stuck straws in the bowl and they all shared their germs and—well, they started out drinking the milk, but ended up blowing lots of milk bubbles. (Because what better use could a kid find for a bowl full of milk and a straw?!) 

Experiencing God's Love -- Where I Got God All Wrong

"Growing spiritually" can sound a little generic, Christian-y, and virtually meaningless in our modern religious world, can't it? It can be easy to talk the talk of faith and devotion but much harder to sit down and actaully meditate on our connection with the Maker. But there's something about the changing of the seasons that helps me to stop and consider these deeper subjects. As I've been doing that, I've had some realizations that have awed and unnerved me all at once. Maybe they'll encourage you as much as they've been changing me.

While Jesse and I were in Florida last month, we spent a lot of time talking with my parents about everything from marriage, to our cities, and to our lives in the ministry. During our last dinner (dad's famous steak, of course), we started discussing me and my guilt-ridden self. To be perfectly honest, Jesse MADE me talk to my parents about it...I pretended to be annoyed but I was actually incredibly relieved to talk with them - J knows best:) As it happens, my dad happens to be a recovering guilty-soul himself so he had a lot of insights to share.