Cultivate Gratitude this November

What comes to mind with November? Maybe you think of pumpkins (mainly in pie form), turkeys, feasting, or the early onset of Christmas decor. While many of have an eye more toward thanksgiving, it’s a great time to cultivate the practice of giving thanks and the virtue of gratitude.

Here are a few resources to help you cultivate gratitude this month.

Here’s a free thirty-day Bible reading plan and devotional. Each day has at least one passage from the Bible related to giving thanks and a devotional related to gratitude.
This content isn’t in my book but it goes with the 30-day reading plan in the back of The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks. The Bible encourages us to give thanks in all seasons and situations. It’s something we need to grow in all year long, but November is a great time to get started.

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Your Children Are Arrows

Children are a gift from God. We love and treasure them. Children are also sheep needing shepherded. Parents must know, feed, protect, lead, and care for their kids.

But did you know the Bible also describes children as arrows? “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth” (Psalm 127:4). This metaphor gets at the missional aspect of raising a child. God wants us to love and enjoy them but also to train them so they can be missionaries wherever they go. God doesn’t want us to hoard them or shelter them but to release them. Parents think about their kids in terms of what they mean to us or what we want from them and for them, but we often neglect what God intends to do in them and through them.

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