A Heart Overflowing With "Thanks to God!"

The Separatists coming to the New World from England came to worship God according to the Bible’s direction.  Upon arrival, several years of extreme sacrifice, difficult labor, and total dependence on the Almighty characterized their existence.  As time progressed, they prospered more and more, all thanks being given to the Providence of God in Heaven.

Thanksgiving tradition tells of the winter of 1623 when the Pilgrims were surviving on a ration of five kernels of corn a day.  It is said that later, the settlers would sometimes set the plates at their Thanksgiving tables with five corn kernels to begin with purposely remembering what God had brought them through and reminding them to consider that every one of them had at least five things to be thankful for.

 

This hymn was written by August Storm after being saved as a young man through the ministry of the Salvation Army.  In his mid-thirties, he was crippled and languished in pain due to a back injury.  Still, he sang this song and wrote another later, of God’s grace through the good times and the bad.

August Ludvig Storm

As my first grade class listened to this song today, they counted on their fingers the many things to be thankful for.  The children quickly ran out of fingers and used their own more than three times over.  This song alone lists THIRTY-TWO things to be thankful for.

Thanks to God

Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a memory,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!

When we finished, one of my students raised her hand and asked, “Ma’am, thanks for PAIN?”

Ah, and there we are, having recently attended a funeral for a man in our church, recalling a mother in constant pain with Lyme Disease, and a little brother wondering what is happening with his kidneys. 

Even as my first thought was, How can these young, innocent, naïve children understand such a great concept?  My second thought was, though young, they are not complete strangers to pain and struggle.  I looked around the room.  He was their friend and long-time prayer request who passed away.  She is his mother who lives with continual pain. Her brother has been going to the doctor every day for a week trying to find out what is happening to his body. 

So we thanked the Lord for, yes, this pain, too.

Our friend is now in Heaven, free from pain!  His wife constantly says, “God does all things well, and He has given so much peace!  I thank Him every day.”

Him:  “Oh yes, and my mom has a good doctor now, and she is going to be well the month after Christmas!”

Her:  “God will help my brother, too.  He’s taking care of him.”

Me:  “That’s right, no matter what happens, He will be in control and we can trust Him.”

Him/Her:  “Yes, we can.  Yes, we can.”

No less, I had the privilege to recall the pain of Christ, mocked and beaten by an angry crowd, nailed to a cross to die.  How thankful we can be for the pain that He bore to redeem us from our sins. 

Yes, thanks, thanks even for pain.

Ten Thousand Hallelujahs! Looking Heavenward

The choir started practicing Christmas music last Sunday.  You cannot help but start the Christmas season when "Ten Thousand Hallelujahs" begin to "explode across the sky."  I remembered listening to the cantata on tape that accompanies this song.  The lady would always say "When I get to Heaven, I'm going to have one of those way up there soprano-type voices,  and I am going to sing Hallelujah...HALLELUJAH!!!"  Mmmm...won't that be wonderful?  To sing with the angels and all the heavenly host of those who are already in Heaven?

It brings back a family secret we girls would share at church.  When the ladies group sang, somehow their voices blended together so well...  Perhaps it was the combination of so many good singing voices, or maybe it was their godly lives and examples that shone through, probably it was both.  The songs always sounded to us like the angels came down to sing right along with them.  It was truly heavenly praise and worship to the Lord.  Some one of us would look at the others and say, "The angels are singing again."  We all smiled, knowing just what she meant.

Today, our church is celebrating the life and death of Mr. Workman.  He was saved through the ministry of our church, and we are so comforted to know that he is safely in Heaven for several days now.  He is singing Hallelujah with my mom and so many others who have been promoted to Heaven before us.

Is there any greater comfort to know that death is only the beginning of greater things for those we love?  

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.

(Revelation 21:4)

Praise Him!

Here's My Latest Creation for 1st Grade

[No copyright infringment intended on the pictures, please believe me.]  

We use "JINGLES" at our school to help the students in the lower grades 

learn a volume of information in an age-appropriate and fun way.

Age-Appropriate:  Young kids love reciting large groups of words, 

even if they do not know what it means at first.  

(Think 5-year olds and their Bible verses.)  

It makes them feel intelligent.

Fun:  If kids are excited about what they are doing at school, 

they will learn much better & desire to learn more.  

Let's face it, kids do not learn the way we do as adults.  

(Think how much your 6-year old learns from the sermon in church...

a word, small thought, or the funny illustration.)  

Thus, the rhyming & silly words like, "paddy wack."

These "JINGLES" will stick with the children long after my great tidbit 

about the Paiute Indians, mentioned briefly but with much emphasis (of course) 

has been blown away by the winds of time & much more "fun" information.

Here's my latest creative handout for the "Noun Jingle."

It's "sung" to the tune of "I Love You, You Love Me" from Barney 

& let's face it, this is a much better use of this catchy tune.  

Ship of Dreams

We read this poem & dreamed over this picture... 
Our minds wandered-rather, sailed-away...
And we were so tempted never to come back.

Cargoes
by John Masefield

QUINQUIREME of Nineveh from distant Ophir,

Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,

With a cargo of ivory,

And apes and peacocks,

Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.        5

Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,

Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,

With a cargo of diamonds,

Emeralds, amethysts,

Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.        10

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke-stack,

Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,

With a cargo of Tyne coal,

Road-rails, pig-lead,

Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.        15

Ship of Dreams  by +Karen Hutton 

Fall Bulletin Board Pics - This One's for Karina

Karina, 

Here's looking @ you, girl.  Hope these help.  I'll keep looking.  I don't know what age range you are going to be targeting.  Also, I'm not sure if you wanted something more "Thanksgiving" than "Fall."  Feel free to correct my search.  ;-)

It’s fun to use students’ faces as part of the board…just printing in color & cutting them out.  They don’t have to be printed on photo paper or anything.  This title really needs changed, but the idea is cute.  The raffia on the border is cute, too.  Pretty cheap @ Michael’s or Jo-anne’s.

 

3-D is always fun.  This one is cute.  The paper raffia is harder to find, but it gives a lot of texture.  This could even be a motivational.  Maybe the students would get to put kernels on the corn cob for rewards or something.  Real corn kernels (dried!) would be really fun, but you’d want to make sure they stick well so you are not having to pick up kernels from the floor all of the time.

  

 

Something like this might be cute except the have the kids trace & cut out their hands on colored paper for the feathers of the turkey.  Lots of colors would be really cute.  Of course, the title can be changed to suit what your topic is.

Here’s one I did before.  I am NOT good @ “pulling it all together.”  But I’m sure you could do much better.  Ideas are helpful anyways.  ;-)

I have a really good book that has the pictures from this board sketched out so you can opaque/copy them.  I just haven’t had a chance to dig it out of the case it’s in.  I’ll try & get that tonight as I have the evening mostly open.

The small pictures are illustrations of the homonyms/homophones.  To make this interactive, especially with 4^th+ grades, the kids can try to draw a picture to illustrate two homonyms/homophones, as well. 

There are also several poems, riddles, etc. that make “hay” (seasonal pun intended) of English homonyms/homophones. 

The Quality of Mercy

From Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, 1596.

PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strain'd,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.

Listen Lord, A Prayer

Reading this again today, I am moved by the passion and the realization of a powerful Devil & an even more powerful God.

"We come this morning---

Like empty pitchers to a full fountain,

With no merits of our own."

From God's Trombones

by James Weldon Johnson

Listen Lord, A Prayer

           

            O Lord, we come this morning

                         Knee-bowed and body-bent

                         Before thy throne of grace.

                         O Lord -- this morning --

                         Bow our hearts beneath our knees,

                         And our knees in some lonesome valley.

                         We come this morning --

                         Like empty pitchers to a full fountain,

                         With no merits of our own.

                         O Lord -- open up a window of heaven,

                         And lean out far over the battlements of glory,

                         And listen this morning.

                         Lord, have mercy on proud and dying sinners --

                         Sinners hanging over the mouth of hell,

                         Who seem to love their distance well.

                         Lord -- ride by this morning --

                         Mount your milk-white horse,

                         And ride-a this morning --

                         And in your ride, ride by old hell,

                         Ride by the dingy gates of hell,

                         And stop poor sinners in their headlong plunge.

                         And now, O Lord, this man of God,

                         Who breaks the bread of life this morning --

                         Shadow him in the hollow of thy hand,

                         And keep him out of the gunshot of the devil.

                         Take him, Lord -- this morning --

                         Wash him with hyssop inside and out,

                         Hang him up and drain him dry of sin.

                         Pin his ear to the wisdom-post,

                         And make his words sledge hammers of truth --

                         Beating on the iron heart of sin.

                         Lord God, this morning --

                         Put his eye to the telescope of eternity,

                         And let him look upon the paper walls of time.

                         Lord, turpentine his imagination,

                         Put perpetual motion in his arms,

                         Fill him full of the dynamite of thy power,

                         Anoint him all over with the oil of thy salvation,

                         And set his tongue on fire.

                         And now, O Lord --

                         When I've done drunk my last cup of sorrow --

                         When I've been called everything but a child of God --

                         When I'm done travelling up the rough side of the mountain --

                         O -- Mary's Baby --

                         When I start down the steep and slippery steps of death --

                         When this old world begins to rock beneath my feet --

                         Lower me to my dusty grave in peace

                         To wait for that great gittin' up morning -- Amen.