1.0North Carolinians voor thuisonderwijshttps://nche.com/nlJessica Friersonhttps://nche.com/nl/author/jessicafrierson2/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="WeBh0SUbOc"><a href="https://nche.com/nl/blog-instilling-gratitude-in-our-children/">Dankbaarheid inboezemen bij onze kinderen</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://nche.com/nl/blog-instilling-gratitude-in-our-children/embed/#?secret=WeBh0SUbOc" width="600" height="338" title="“Instilling Gratitude in Our Children” — North Carolinians for Home Education" data-secret="WeBh0SUbOc" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://nche.com/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script>by Jessica Frierson, November 2022 November is the season of gratitude, culminating in a national observance of Thanksgiving Day. George Washington began the tradition of a national day of thanksgiving in 1789. Washington had previously ordered special days of thanksgiving for his troops following successful battles during the Revolutionary War. President Lincoln called on our nation to remember the blessings and provisions of God even amid a war-torn landscape in his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation on October 3, 1863. He poignantly reminded us, “No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”  The practice of setting aside a day to give thanks to God for His care and provision goes back to the earliest days of our nation. According to www.mountvernon.org, “Colonists often established Thank Days to mark certain occasions. These one-time events could occur at any time of the year and, emphasizing prayer and spiritual reflection, were usually more solemn than the Thanksgiving we observe today.”  No history of Thanksgiving Day would be complete without remembering the 1621 occasion of the Pilgrims’ famous feast with the neighboring Wampanoag, and again two years later with a day of praise to God for rain after a two-month drought. But credit for the first annual Thanksgiving observance goes back to 1619 with a group of thirty-eight English settlers who comprised the first permanent settlement in the Virginia colony. The group’s charter from the London Company dictated that, “the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.” In keeping with this, an annual commemoration of this earliest documented day of thanksgiving is observed at the Berkeley Plantation, located near the site of their landing along the James River in Virginia.   Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. Psalm 95:1-2   Sadly, the Thanksgiving holiday in America has lost much of its focus on consecration to God, gratitude for His grace and provision for the past year, and prayer for the year to come. It has become largely synonymous with family spats, gorging ourselves on turkey “with all the fixin’s,” and football. Gone are the days of solemnity, selflessness, and unity. Thanksgiving aside, our culture today is overcome with self-gratification, which is hardly compatible with gratitude. This loss does not come as a surprise, however, as we are warned in 2 Timothy 3:1-3 that a lack of gratitude will characterize life in the last days: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”  As parents, we must not only guard against this type of attitude within ourselves but must also be diligent to cultivate in our children seeds of kindness, thankfulness, humility, obedience, holiness, truthfulness, a love for God, and consideration for others. I believe that all of these attributes are interwoven with a spirit of gratitude.  What makes a person feel grateful? The foundation is an appreciation for what you have and a realization that it is a gift from God. We most appreciate what we have when we have gone through a time of being without those things. Conversely, the more someone has, the less grateful they tend to be.  When our neighborhood was hit by a tornado several years ago, we had a lengthy power outage. I recall how satisfying it was to put away the kerosene lamps and flood our home with light at the flick of a switch once again when the power was restored. What a wonderful feeling when cool air once again flowed from our air conditioner! Things we would otherwise take for granted take on new meaning when lost to us.  Piglet noticed that although he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude. ~ A. A. Milne To help our children appreciate the blessings and privileges that fill their lives, we could shut off the water and electricity or take them to a third world-country to live for a few months. As a less drastic measure, offer them a look at life through the perspective of someone else who doesn’t enjoy those same luxuries. Often, we are unaware of how privileged we are compared to many others in the world.  This lack of awareness was made clear to me one day many years ago when my oldest sons were small. They were visiting their grandmother’s house, and she brought out a basket of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars for them to play with. My youngest brother, a teenager then, came inside with a friend who had recently immigrated from Central America. He came to a complete stop when he saw the basket of cars. In a state of amazement, he knelt and picked one up, looking at it from every angle before giving its wheels a spin. He stayed there for some time, looking at one car after the other, driving them around on the floor with my sons. He went on to share that he had never had a toy of any kind in all his life and had always dreamed of having one – just ONE – toy car like these. Twenty years later, I can still picture his face and vividly feel the overwhelming emotions I felt that day. I witnessed his reaction to what was a very ordinary plaything […]https://nche.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Thanksgiving-table-1-scaled-e1669169888224.jpg12001358