How Many?
Send the children to their rooms to count their toys and then report back with the number.
Ask:
Do you have enough toys? Why or why not?
How many toys do you need to be satisfied or content?
Read Philippians 4:11-12 aloud.
What does it mean to be content? (To be satisfied; to be happy with what we have; etc.)
What did Paul say he had learned? (How to be content in any circumstance.)
Paul said he learned to be satisfied with what he had, whether it was a little or a lot. His contentment did not rest in what he had or what happened to him. He had a friendship with God, and he trusted that God would give him what he needed.
3 Good Things
Complaining can become a habit, so help your children learn to be content by making a new rule:
For every complaint, they must say 3 good things.
For example:
Why do we always have mashed potatoes? I don’t like lumpy potatoes.
3 good things…
– I’m glad we have peas. They’re my favorite.
– I’m happy that we have food to eat.
– I’m glad Mom makes us dinner.
Paul said he learned to be content whether things were good or bad. We can always find something to be thankful for!
The Thanksgiving Showdown
One of the best ways to be content is to be thankful. Do we have clothes and a place to sleep? Do we have food to eat? God gives us these things to enjoy, and we need to say thank you. If we aren’t thankful and happy for what we already have, we probably wouldn’t be thankful if we had more.
As you are driving in the car (or at any other time) have a “Thanksgiving Showdown.” Choose two participants and then name an area where we need to be thankful—home, family, school, church, friends, abilities, nature, and then ask the two participants to go back and forth naming something to be thankful for (related to that area) until one can’t think of anything. The winner is the last one to name something.
Pick a new category and two more people to see who can be the most thankful.