The Mind of a Child

[00:00:00] Leslie Corbell: Hello, I'm Leslie Dudley Corbell. And I'm Diane Doucette Matthews, welcome to the Mind of a Child.

We are so glad you've joined us. Today's episode, we're gonna be talking about Thanksgiving and gratitude and what that looks like as we walk through our days. You know, and Diane, I've been doing a lot of reading lately about Puritans. Mm-hmm. And so one thing that came up that I wanted to share, just this little excerpt of a prayer.

And it's from a book called The Valley of Vision. Mm-hmm. Which I know I've heard many people talk about. But this was a praise and Thanksgiving prayer. When I think upon and converse with thee 10,000 delightful thoughts spring up, 10,000 sources of pleasure or unsealed, 10,000 refreshing joys spread over my heart, crowding into every moment of happiness when we think about Thanksgiving.

[00:01:00] 10,000 things should come to our lips every single day. Mm-hmm. That we can be thankful for. So, I mean, I think about family, just give thanks every day for the family that I have to walk with me. I, I'm thankful for a bed to sleep in. I'm thankful for a wonderful ice cold cup of water to drink.

[00:01:19] Diane Matthews: And a nice warm shower.

Yes. Cold, warm. Yes. Yeah. Counter our blessings. I read a story the other day in one of my little devotionals about a husband and wife, and the husband was dying. And he was down and out and they would remember together all their blessings. Mm-hmm. And it would lift his spirits. Mm-hmm. You know, so just counting our blessings.

Yes. How important that is. But I thought, you know, we take so many little things like you're talking about for granted, like just a roof over our head shoes. We don't have to go barefooted. So, so like, so many. People in the world have to, we are so, so blessed. But just to count those daily, my [00:02:00] daughter-in-law gave me a Thanksgiving book and it was a time in my life when I was pretty depressed.

I had gone through my migraines and I was home bound and I just was not looking up, and she just said. If you just write one thing down, if it's just a word or a phrase, something that you're thankful for, and I remember the first day it was like water. You know, it was just one thing, you know, it was very minimal at first, but then as the days went on, I was able to say more and more and more, and it really did lift my spirits.

So it, it really does something to us to be grateful and to lift that up to the Lord. Even thinking

[00:02:44] Leslie Corbell: about water. Water. When your mouth is really parched and it's hot outside and dry, I mean, you can really start going deep and really experience those blessings that you're counting. In that

[00:02:56] Diane Matthews: moment, you know, even doctors say that giving thanks is so [00:03:00] beneficial for us.

And I, of course, I looked that up. I thought, what did they say? I don't have the statistics and how they even, you know, develop this list, but improve heart health, lower blood pressure, and less inflammation, better sleep, stronger immune system, less stress, and more energy. Just by giving thanks. That's what they say.

But you know what, even if it is or isn't, if these happen or they don't happen, even just one thing happened, we know that God created our bodies and he wants, he inhabits the praises of his people. And so when we do that, there's something that happens to us in our, in our spirits. Mm-hmm.

[00:03:38] Leslie Corbell: Yeah. And I hear you saying that it really does benefit us, our bodies.

Mm-hmm. And we are embodied souls. And I think about, mm-hmm. How. Why do we give thanks also to praise and worship? Yeah. Our creator. Yeah. He wants us to praise him. He wants us to be people of praise. And you did some looking up on that too. You were telling me about the Festival of Booths.

[00:03:59] Diane Matthews: Oh yeah, [00:04:00] yeah. We think, oh, the Thanksgiving celebration started in America with the pilgrims and the Indians.

But really it started. Where God wanted his people to give him praise. It's written in the Old Testament, in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and it's the Festival of Booths. And that was when they gathered their produce in that God told Moses, tell my people to gather together and have a festival. And I, I'm gonna read it because it was, it's so good.

It says, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord. Rejoice in your feast because the Lord your God will bless you. In all your produce and in all the work of your hands so that you will be all together, joyful, you know? So even back then, we we're talking 1400 bc. He established a festival for us to give thanks.

For what he had done and the work that we had done. So yeah, I think that's really neat. That way back then, that's when it started. And

[00:04:59] Leslie Corbell: [00:05:00] you're talking about that, when we were discussing it earlier, it reminded me of a story of my children because we were studying the Israelites and our Bible study for children that our church was having.

[00:05:10] Diane Matthews: Mm-hmm.

[00:05:11] Leslie Corbell: And at that time, I think. My son was five, my daughter was eight, and we were studying the Israelites. Mm-hmm. And how they were wandering through the wilderness and the whole, the grumbling that was occurring over and over and over, and how God was faithful and kept providing for them. And so that those stories were fresh on my children's hearts uhhuh.

And so we went to this Diamond Mind in Arkansas. It's a state park. The only place in the US you can dig for diamonds. And we were there and the soil is very lowy, so it's because it's volcanic ash uhhuh. And so you would stand in this soil and start sinking, especially if it was wet. And so my children were small, of course.

And so we had rain boots on and both kids started sinking and they couldn't move and they were up to their knees. That's kind of scary. It was very scary for them. But I remember so well, um, my [00:06:00] son being stuck in that soil. Unable to move and he cries out, dear God, thank you for my family. Thank you for the life that I have lived.

And I just thought, you know, that shows a heart of gratitude that

[00:06:16] Diane Matthews: really, really did.

[00:06:17] Leslie Corbell: Even in these moments of. Trouble. Mm-hmm. To cry out in Thanksgiving. And so I thought, you know, that's really what God desires for us, is this heart of gratitude. Mm-hmm. That is oriented towards him and is focused on him.

That is precious. That is. It was a sweet story.

[00:06:33] Diane Matthews: Sweet. What did Madeline do? Do you remember? She, she did cry out. Dear God, I'm too young to die. That would've been me more so I'm too young to die. Yes. Oh, that

[00:06:44] Leslie Corbell: is

[00:06:45] Diane Matthews: a

[00:06:45] Leslie Corbell: great story. She cried out for help,

[00:06:47] Diane Matthews: which is also a wonderful thing to do. Oh yeah, definitely.

In times of trouble. Both of both of those responses were perfect. So we did wanna talk about the difference between gratitude and Thanksgiving, and so that was perfect. A heart of gratitude. It's just a [00:07:00] heart posture of just being thankful. So what is being thankful? What is thankfulness? How is that different than gratitude?

Think

[00:07:09] Leslie Corbell: of in terms of Thanksgiving mm-hmm. That, that there's gratitude in Thanksgiving. Mm-hmm. So Thanksgiving is a giving of thanks and act mm-hmm. Of giving of thanks from that heart of gratitude. I love that.

[00:07:21] Diane Matthews: Okay. So let's, let's talk about some ways that we can express. Our gratitude in real practical ways in our home.

[00:07:31] Leslie Corbell: First is. The morning routine. Mm. And so how are we gonna greet our children in the morning to help set their heart on thankfulness?

[00:07:39] Diane Matthews: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:39] Leslie Corbell: And so, you know, simply put, it's, we are awake. Rejoice for this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Are you gonna sing it for us?

[00:07:50] Diane Matthews: No, I'm not gonna sing it.

'cause I don't think you have to sing it, but you can sing it or you

[00:07:54] Leslie Corbell: can say it. Or just, and having that posture of, here it is Monday morning. Thank you Lord for this [00:08:00] morning. It's a day that you have made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Oh, good morning. Thank you Jesus. I mean, just something as simple, it's just, it's really not so much what you do, it's the posture that you come into that moment with.

Yeah. You're setting

[00:08:13] Diane Matthews: the stage. Mm-hmm. For the, you know, the way they look at the day and the way you, you know, enter the day. I had to set up some habits for me, 'cause I didn't wanna miss. Being thankful. 'cause I found myself jumping into the day and just getting halfway through the morning and I didn't even tell the Lord.

Thank you. So I set up a habit that when I'm making the bed, 'cause I normally get out of the bed, do my stretches, and I'm making the bed at the same time. And so I just said, this is my habit. When I'm making the bed, I'm gonna start saying, Lord, I'm thankful for list start listing. So that's my habit. So I would say it's a good.

Practice if you can. However, whatever works for you is just to set up some habits and just have them in place. [00:09:00] I love that

[00:09:01] Leslie Corbell: when you set a habit, it becomes part of who you are. And so, and it's good to have guidelines and, and have things that you do and that feed your heart mm-hmm. And help you

[00:09:09] Diane Matthews: have that heart posture.

And we've talked about this many times on, on the, uh, podcast, how, what is it? 310 times the Lord. Tells us to remember, remember, remember, so I don't know about you. It's easy for me to forget. And I think that's why the Lord told us to remember, remember. And the story in, I think it's Joshua, when Moses died and Joshua took over and they were getting ready to cross the Jordan, and halfway through, that's where the arc of the covenant was.

They stopped there and then the Lord told. Joshua to go and have one from each tribe. Go gather stones and then pick up the stones, put 'em on your shoulder, carry 'em across, and they, they made like a, a monument. And then this is what it says in the scripture. I, I love this. It says, [00:10:00] this is to serve as a sign among you and the future.

When your children ask you, what do these stones mean? Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off. And tell the story, and that the stones are to be a memorial to your people of Israel forever. So to st that's another thing. Mm-hmm. That you can do in your home to set up memorials, whatever that may be.

I know I put stones in my plants, you know, to remind me of just different things that have happened in my life. But you can do that with your kids. Oh, absolutely. And just anything, you know, anything to remind them and to remind yourself. In your family.

[00:10:42] Leslie Corbell: I love that idea. To gather stones and you keep them in something and then recount the stories.

Mm-hmm. And so, or maybe you don't wanna do stones, maybe you wanna do ribbons on a, on a wreath and make a little decoration of Thai ribbon every time there's something that's happened. But again, the whole idea is to tell the story of God's [00:11:00] faithfulness. Could be a jar. Yeah. Things written down on a jar.

Yeah. Yeah. Where you actually do write down the stories and then pull them out and read them. Mm-hmm. And recount them. But anything that you do to set up that idea of a monument mm-hmm. To recall God's faithfulness.

[00:11:20] Diane Matthews: Another way is at dinner, breakfast, lunch, whenever, stop and just give the Lord thanks for what you're eating, getting ready to eat. And I read somewhere that you know Jesus before he fed the 5,000, 4,000, both of those. And uh, there was another time too, but there were two times that before the miracle happened.

He gave thanks. You know, it was a connection and he was trusting the Lord. So just doing that with your family is another way to give thanks and be thankful and let them know that God is in control

[00:11:57] Leslie Corbell: with that whole idea of dinner table conversation, you can [00:12:00] even ask questions. Something like, you know, what happened today that made you smile, that brought a smile to your face?

And just, and then follow that thread. And give thanks for that in that moment and see God's goodness in your life that day. Yes,

[00:12:12] Diane Matthews: very important to do every day if you can, if you, if you don't do it every day, but just try to stimulate that kind of thought.

[00:12:20] Leslie Corbell: And so we're talking about all these ways that you can give thanks for the 10,000 things that happened during the day that that God's faithfulness in your life.

But how about when maybe the day didn't go the way you wanted it to, because the scripture says we want to give thanks in all circumstances. So how might that look and how can we help our children in those circumstances? You have a fun little example. I think you should go through that one. So in these moments of distress, we can help our children see that God is guiding us in those moments.

Mm-hmm. And using it for our good. And sometimes that can be hard 'cause we also don't wanna minimize the moment for them. No. But [00:13:00] we want to help them. See the bigger picture of the moment. So it could even be something like, and I know I can remember these times, and I know every mother probably can remember something like this, but let's say your child really loves the Woody and Buzz cereal bowl and the Woody and Buzz cereal bowl is dirty and they're having to use the Yellow Bowl instead.

[00:13:22] Diane Matthews: Mm.

[00:13:23] Leslie Corbell: And that. That can be hard for a young child who really likes that Woody and Buzz Bowl. Yeah. And so in those moments, helping them see, you know, dear Lord Jack really wanted to eat his cereal out of the Woody and Buzz bowl, and it's dirty. You are good and faithful even in our distress, and you have provided us other bowls that we can use today.

Mm. And while it may not be what we would like. Help us enjoy our cereal for the nourishment of our bodies. Mm. And tomorrow, maybe that Woody and Buzz Bowl will be clean. We pray that it's clean tomorrow.

[00:13:58] Diane Matthews: Thank you, Lord.

[00:13:59] Leslie Corbell: [00:14:00] That's

[00:14:00] Diane Matthews: right. But that's perfect. Yeah. You know, because that is very stressful for them and you can use that with.

You know, favorite outfit? Mm-hmm. Or socks or shoes or anything, you know, with, with children. Yeah. I have an example. Prayer for adults. Okay. I wrote it down 'cause I thought, you know, what does it mean to give thanks in all circumstances? 'cause some circumstances just stink. So, um. Lord, I have no idea why I have a flat tire, but I know that you want me to be thankful in all things, so I'm gonna thank you, even though I don't feel.

Thankful, but I know that you know all things and you know what's best, and so I'm just gonna trust you now and I pray for help to come quickly in your name. Jesus. Amen. You know, you're, you're [00:15:00] obeying the commandment to give thanks in all things, but you're admitting. You don't feel it, but you're, you're, you're carrying on.

Yeah. And even if your children are there and you pray that out loud, they, they see that you're, you're still giving thanks, even though it's not very convenient. Mm-hmm. And it's, right. Yeah. Right.

[00:15:19] Leslie Corbell: So I think it's wise to model that for them because they really do learn by what they see. Mm-hmm. And hear, and that goes so far in developing their, in, shaping their heart.

[00:15:29] Diane Matthews: And we have quite a few Bible examples too that we could talk about because there's many stories in the Bible where men and women experienced great difficulties. I mean, it worked out. For God's good and they wind up praising the Lord, honoring the Lord, giving thanks to the Lord. So what are, what are some of those examples?

[00:15:51] Leslie Corbell: Well, one of my favorite examples is always Joseph. I love the story of Joseph and how, I'm not gonna go through the whole story, but we know that he was betrayed by his [00:16:00] brothers, that he was sold unto slavery, sent to Egypt, falsely imprisoned. Mm-hmm. Is given a role to oversee the food supply during famine for Egypt.

And his brothers show up and rather than send them away, you know, he testifies to God's goodness and says, God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth. And then he goes on to say, so it was not you who sent me here, but it was God. He gave God the honor for all of his difficulties, and I just think that's a beautiful story.

It was one of my children's favorite stories growing up. It's still one of their favorite stories, so I encourage you to read that story to your children because all the details in there line up and clearly proclaim God's work in his life.

[00:16:54] Diane Matthews: I don't remember how many years that was from when he was thrown to the pit to where his [00:17:00] brothers showed up. But it was a long time and he had some hard life experiences during that, you know, so it would've been in the flesh without God. Mm-hmm. He could have been real bitter and real angry to towards his brothers.

Mm-hmm. But yeah, he chose to honor God, give him thanks and think of job. I mean, he lost his wealth, he lost his family. He lost everything. In Job 1 21, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. That's what he says. And he said, blessed be the name of the Lord. So he blessed the Lord, even though he said, you know what, Lord?

You're in control. You know if you take it away, you give it what a. A heart of gratitude and of the Lord is in control. That's hard to have that you can't have that without the Lord being in your heart. And wow,

[00:17:54] Leslie Corbell: there are many stories there. Many, but we also talked about David through all of his troubles.

You know, [00:18:00] adultery, murder, being chased by Saul, but Psalm 51 specifically, he spoke of joy

[00:18:07] Diane Matthews: and he praised God in that moment. Yeah, during the repenting, he's repenting, repenting, and in the middle of it, he's just praising God. Yeah, these are just a few stories. There's so many stories in the scripture, and they didn't let their actions define them.

You know, they let God refine them and what God was doing, they gave their lives to the Lord. So thanks be to him.

[00:18:36] Leslie Corbell: So when we think about this episode and what brought us to it, Diane, I think about the verse one, Thessalonians five 16 through 18, which I'm gonna read right now. Rejoice, always pray without seizing. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. And that verse has always brought me such hope.

I know when I have faced difficult [00:19:00] circumstances, I have prayed without seizing, and it was that praying without seizing that really helped me walk through that and brought me peace. I don't know that I've always given thanks in difficult circumstances, so I think it's a good reminder to us. It's what God desires for us, and he knows that that will reorient us back to God.

So that we're not distracted by these difficult circumstances and we're not vulnerable to these difficult circumstances. So I think it's a good reminder to us to continue to give thanks. But when we can walk every day, think back to those 10,000 blessings. There are 10,000 blessings every single day, and the more we can give voice to those and notice those with our children, the more our posture, our heart posture is of gratitude.

That just changes our perspective on the day. And we can rejoice for this is the day that the Lord has made.

[00:19:50] Diane Matthews: That's a great word, Leslie. So let's reorient ourselves right now. Okay. Because I'm gonna read us Psalm 100, and I love even the title [00:20:00] of it for giving Grateful Praise. Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is good. It is he who made us, and we are his. We are his people. The sheep of his pasture enter his gates with thanksgiving in his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever.

His faithfulness continues through all generations. Lord, we thank you that you are good and your unfailing love continues forever, and your faithfulness continues to each generation, protect all of our families. It's in your name, Jesus Christ, that we pray. Amen.

[00:20:56] Leslie Corbell: Thanks for listening. Check out our Instagram at the [00:21:00] Mind of a Child Pod, or you can email us at the Mind of a Child podcast@gmail.com.