Hey Mama Monday: Mama, How Does Your Homeschool Celebrate Thanksgiving?

Our family will enjoy the typical American feast with friends and family next week. But I have seen a sad trend lately. Our society takes out the thanksgiving part of the holiday and calls it Turkey Day. Not only that, but there seems to be a big deal made of Halloween and Christmas, but Thanksgiving is overlooked.

But God wants people of thanksgiving. So, how do we cultivate a heart of thanksgiving?

We teach our children to say thank you to everyone, for anything, in every circumstance. After all, they are children who should show honor and respect and kindness to all they come in contact with.

But worse than that is a complaining heart, a selfish heart that only demands no matter what it has already received. We dislike this in our children. Before we reproach children for their entitlement natures, let’s look a little closer to home. Do we say “Please” to God and forget the “Thank you”?

We lay out all our requests, and we stop there. That’s the end of our prayer. Can you imagine if the only communication you received from your spouse or children was a list of things to do for them? You will never have a close relationship with God if all you do is give Him lists of requests. We must have the “thank you,” for it is in our thanks that we acknowledge just Who He Is. It’s more than a polite thanks. It is thanksgiving, it’s what takes away our anxiety, and it is even worship.

Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6, 7 (KJV)

The Greek meaning of the word “thanksgiving” is here: From eucharistos; gratitude; actively, grateful language (to God, as an act of worship) — thankfulness, (giving of) thanks(-giving).

We must also worship with our “Thank you, God!” When we are full of gratitude, we have no room for a spirit of heaviness. We have no room for a complaining, selfish heart. We have shifted the focus from our feelings and our temporal needs to the very God who meets every need.

When we begin to add “thank you” with our lists of “please,” we recognize the very greatness of our God and humble ourselves before it. We come into a relationship with God rather than merely handing Him a list and hitting the road. We remember that He is gracious and He provides and He cares greatly for us. Let’s worship Him in thanksgiving.

Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? Psalm 77:9-13 (KJV)

Deborah Wuehler is the Senior Editor and Director of Production here at The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. She would say she is a very ordinary homeschool mom–with one exception: she has an extra-ordinary God Who provides all she needs for life and homeschooling. She has eight children aged 11 to 29. Deborah’s mission is this: to point other homeschoolers to the Lord in all they do, think, and feel—and to confirm that they, too, can find everything they need for life, godliness–and homeschooling–in their knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3, 4).