True Gratitude

How do we truly have gratitude when we have so much? Living in the United States is like living in a Garden of Eden of modern day. We have so many resources, so many people around us, so many conveniences and so many freedoms.

Our houses are warm, our water is plentiful, our food is available and delicious - there is so much that we can truly take for granted. So, how can we truly have gratitude when we are already born into such privilege?

I don’t know that we can truly understand what it means to “go without” but one thing we can do is take special days, like Thanksgiving, and take a good look around. We can reflect on what we truly have and talk about it with our kids and families. Having a home for our one family is amazing! Having heat and air conditioning is truly a privilege. Fresh water that we just “turn on” is awesome! Fresh food that is bountiful and delicious is true privilege. Having the freedom to go to church and speak our minds in our community is something that not everyone has the ability to do. And, being free to make as much money as we want is something that is unique to only some areas of the world. Free enterprise and the ability to create businesses is something that we take advantage of. I think we should share this with our kids. I think they need to know that just because they have the ability to go out and create a business and earn income, doesn’t mean that everyone does. Not everyone has that kind of opportunity. Not everyone has the privilege of going to college and learning skills so they can go out and earn an income as they see fit. These are all special things that only some people get to experience.

At Wealthy Kids Academy we spend a lot of time looking forward. We talk about the future a lot and we try to plan as best we can for what’s to come. But sometimes we need to stop and take a look at where we are. We need to realize our current circumstances and really understand how wonderful they really are. And then, after we relish in how wonderful our current situation really is, we should look back and see how far we have come. It's so easy to plow ahead and push forward without ever stopping and taking a look backward. We all are blasting forward at warp speed, especially in this season of life - there is work, school, church, eating right, exercise, travel, extracurriculars, sports, and all the other things that we get wrapped up in, and it's very easy to just continue forward. Thanksgiving is a great day to reflect on how far we have come. So do that, talk to your kiddos about how much they have accomplished this year. Have they reached any goals? Improved any grades? Learned new skills? Talk to them about how great those things are and make them understand how much they have accomplished. Remembering where we have been can make us proud of where we are.

As we move past the holiday, don’t let the attitude of gratitude escape your kids. Being grateful for what we have, who we are, and where we’ve been makes us even more grateful for where we are headed.


A wonderful Thanksgiving prayer for all the little things…

For flowers that bloom about our feet, Father, we thank Thee. For tender grass so fresh, so sweet, Father, we thank Thee. For the song of bird and hum of bee, for all things fair we hear or see, Father in heaven, we thank Thee. For blue of stream and blue of sky, Father, we thank Thee. For pleasant shade of branches high, Father, we thank Thee. For fragrant air and cooling breeze, for beauty of the blooming trees, Father in heaven, we thank Thee. For this new morning with its light, Father, we thank Thee. For rest and shelter of the night, Father, we thank Thee. For health and food, for love and friends, for everything Thy goodness sends, Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hope each one of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!

-Amanda