My Friend’s Th(i)nkful Tree

Back in October, I spoke at a ladies’ retreat and shared about the concept of being th(i)nkful.  There was a precious lady present at that retreat that took the th(i)nkful idea and owned it for herself.

In this post I want to share what she did.

My friend bought a leaf cutter from Hobby Lobby craft store (using the 40% coupon) :).  She then went to Walmart and asked if she could have paint-color samples.  She took the paint-color sample papers and cut out ‘leaves.’

She would gather spring colors, or fall colors, or just do all one color depending on what she wanted .  She cut out quite a few leaves and then had a good thin permanent marker to write on the leaf.  Every day she would write the date and one thing she was thankful for on a paper leaf.  She then would attach the leaf to a little “tree” that she had made.
It displayed the leaves.  She brought the tree and the leaves to show me one evening when we were speaking at a missions conference at her church.

My heart was so encouraged.  Here she had taken the principle of thinking thanks and put feet to it in her own life.  She shared that this had helped her so much in establishing a thought pattern of looking for things to be th(i)nkful for.  Just perfect!!!!

What Do You Do to Promote Gratitude?

Having a heart that is full of gratitude is not a natural thing.  It is the work of the Spirit that helps us develop such a heart.  It is so good for us to learn to be thankful for all things, whether good or bad.  Our hearts can choose be thankful and express that thankfulness in clever ways that inspire others.

Th(i)nkful:  a determined choice to download grace/strength from the Lord to think thanks about every circumstance in my life and to express that thanks orally or in a written form.