New Year's Resolution: Cultivate a Gratitude Attitude!

If I do nothing else as a Sunday School teacher, I hope I can instill in the kids the need to be grateful for the many blessings that God has given them.

So, for our New Year's Day craft, I came up with a "Happiness Tub".  Inside are little slips of paper that say:  "Thank You, God, for..."  Every day the children are supposed to write a little note to God, thanking Him for His many blessings.  I encouraged them to thank Him for one thing each day.

I told them that there are so many wealthy people out there who aren't very happy.  They are constantly buying new gadgets that give them very temporary "happiness", but it doesn't last.  They don't cultivate a "Gratitude Attitude", thanking God for the simplest of blessings and being satisfied with what you have.

Have you ever seen pictures or videos from mission trips to Africa where the people are so joyous, and yet they seem to have so little?  "Things" don't make us happy.  Being thankful for God's many blessings to us... does.

I made a typo when I was putting the Bible verse on the picture to place on top of the little plastic tub.  Sorry.  After the kids color their picture, have little foam brushes and plates of ModPodge on them.  Put a liberal amount on the top of the tub, place your picture on top, smooth it out, then cover with another liberal amount of ModPodge.  Smooth out the ModPodge.  Let dry and it will be beautiful.

For the little strips of paper, you can gather them together with a rubber band and then the child can take one out at a time to write their praise to God.