If our children only take one tradition of ours with them when they leave home, the Ebenezer Box is the one I pray they'll continue to embrace.
Recording our blessings to praise God and remember His faithfulness is a priceless way to invest our time.
On Thanksgiving Day, after enjoying a bounty of God's provision, we sat at the table and savored the reminders of how great God is to us every single day. We read each one, and the children eventually turned it into a bit of a game, trying to guess who recorded the blessing just read. It was a time of laughter, of remembrance, of thankful hearts. It was a time of slowing down to reflect on just how blessed we truly are. It was my own favorite part of the day.
Here are a few observations after using the Ebenezer Box for a year...
1) We forget. It is so easy to forget all that God has done for us. Even as we read the notes, we often would have that "Oh, I forgot about that" look on our faces. Recording blessings provides a tangible, lasting memory of God's wonderful works to the children of men.
2) We're unfaithful. Even with the box readily available, there are so many blessings we failed to record. The tyranny of the urgent or the pleasures of the moment would steal our attention, having many of us say, "We'll write that down later." But later never came.
3) Noting God's blessings encourages thankfulness for the smallest of things. There were many cards expressing gratitude for the simplest pleasures and for the many blessings we simply take for granted each day.
4) When we record our blessings, we're recording our family history. Many of the cards told the story of our lives for the past year. How encouraging to see God's hand in it all, working all things together for good.
There's one change we're making to how we use the Ebenezer Box. We'll be setting aside time on Sundays to record the blessings for that week. If we're not intentional, it just doesn't happen....or at least it doesn't happen as often as it should.
We want our children to have a habit of, to practice without giving it a second thought, praising God and thanking Him. When our hearts begin to grumble and murmur against our circumstances, and ultimately against our God who is sovereign over all, gratitude steps in and reminds us that God is faithful and trustworthy.
We'll be using the same box we made for last year, but we've chosen a new verse for the year. (Psalm 107:15 was last year's.) "Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." Psalm 40:5
I'll be scrapbooking the notes from last year as a lasting reminder of God's faithfulness. If we're faithful to continue this, what a treasure our children will have before them in being able to read of God's many blessings on and deliverances of the Poff Family.
Do this! Start today. Perhaps it could be a New Year's Tradition. However you do it, you'll never regret the time spent reflecting on God's provision. This tradition truly is a keeper!
Recording our blessings to praise God and remember His faithfulness is a priceless way to invest our time.
On Thanksgiving Day, after enjoying a bounty of God's provision, we sat at the table and savored the reminders of how great God is to us every single day. We read each one, and the children eventually turned it into a bit of a game, trying to guess who recorded the blessing just read. It was a time of laughter, of remembrance, of thankful hearts. It was a time of slowing down to reflect on just how blessed we truly are. It was my own favorite part of the day.
Here are a few observations after using the Ebenezer Box for a year...
1) We forget. It is so easy to forget all that God has done for us. Even as we read the notes, we often would have that "Oh, I forgot about that" look on our faces. Recording blessings provides a tangible, lasting memory of God's wonderful works to the children of men.
2) We're unfaithful. Even with the box readily available, there are so many blessings we failed to record. The tyranny of the urgent or the pleasures of the moment would steal our attention, having many of us say, "We'll write that down later." But later never came.
3) Noting God's blessings encourages thankfulness for the smallest of things. There were many cards expressing gratitude for the simplest pleasures and for the many blessings we simply take for granted each day.
4) When we record our blessings, we're recording our family history. Many of the cards told the story of our lives for the past year. How encouraging to see God's hand in it all, working all things together for good.
There's one change we're making to how we use the Ebenezer Box. We'll be setting aside time on Sundays to record the blessings for that week. If we're not intentional, it just doesn't happen....or at least it doesn't happen as often as it should.
We want our children to have a habit of, to practice without giving it a second thought, praising God and thanking Him. When our hearts begin to grumble and murmur against our circumstances, and ultimately against our God who is sovereign over all, gratitude steps in and reminds us that God is faithful and trustworthy.
We'll be using the same box we made for last year, but we've chosen a new verse for the year. (Psalm 107:15 was last year's.) "Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." Psalm 40:5
I'll be scrapbooking the notes from last year as a lasting reminder of God's faithfulness. If we're faithful to continue this, what a treasure our children will have before them in being able to read of God's many blessings on and deliverances of the Poff Family.
Do this! Start today. Perhaps it could be a New Year's Tradition. However you do it, you'll never regret the time spent reflecting on God's provision. This tradition truly is a keeper!
We started a praise journal a while back (just to keep it all intact :)), and I agree, we are too lax with our praises. However, it is so awesome to go back - even from a month ago - and be reminded; "Oh, yeah. Look how God did this for us." I absolutely love talking about our masovats (sp?) that God called the Israelites to do when they crossed the Jordan. I love hearing how your family has incorporated this as well. Ultimately, may God receive ALL the glory.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good idea. Trouble is, I can't keep up with my daily journal. Guess I need to be with the Poffs. Love you.
ReplyDeleteMemaw
Poff Clan,
ReplyDeleteI absolutley love the idea of the Ebenezer Box. I love the idea of writing down our blessings. It is so easy to forget things that have happened in our daily lives.
I am going to put that on my New Year's List of things to do.
How fun it must be to do that with a family like yours.
Love,
Sister, and Aunt C
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
ReplyDeleteto everything you said. Like you, we started this tradition last year(thanks to you) and we noticed the same things- we forgot, we were unfaithful, we were reminded of the little things, and we noticed how this will tell a story of what was going on in our lives. I cannot express to you in words how THANKFUL I am (we are) that you shared this tradition with us, and like you it was my favorite time of the day-maybe of the year. As we were doing it this Thanksgiving, I had to add to it, "Thank you for the Poffs who shared this idea with us." We too have decided to make a weekly event out of it, doing it on Saturday nights after our Sabbath dinner, or Sunday if we run out of time the night before.
I've been meaning to tell you too, that when we sat down to do it this week, you guys came up 3 times. First, Emma said, "Thank you for our friends the Poffs. They are such wonderful friends to us and they are our best friends." Then Charlotte said, "Thank you for the new baby in Mrs. Poff's tummy." Then James said, "Thank you that they didn't have to cut deep for Mrs. Poff's surgery."
You guys are obviously a blessing to us and your friendship and example means so much to us!
Love you,
Nicole