Gratitude-Inspiring Ideas, Quotes, and Verses

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m sharing some gratitude-inspiring ideas, quotes and Bible verses!

I love Thanksgiving! I love the simplicity of a holiday focused on gratitude, family, friends, and food(!!) It’s a sweet time before the more hectic (though also wonderful) Christmas season ahead.

Though we should all be grateful year-round, I see nothing wrong with going all in for at least one week a year. I encourage you to model a thankful heart. Speak out your gratitude in front of your kids. Play songs of praise. And yes, encourage your kids to be grateful, too.

There are plenty of ways to help your kids cultivate a grateful heart at Thanksgiving. Below are just a few favorites we have enjoyed over the years. I also like to share inspiring quotes and Bible verses with my family as a way to meditate on the importance of gratitude, so I am including a short list below.

Ways to Help Your Kids Cultivate Gratitude –

Gratitude Jar-

Gratitude jars are a sweet way to help your family focus on gratitude at Thanksgiving, and all year long. You simply leave a jar with slips of colorful paper and a pen in a special place. Invite family members to jot down something they are thankful for and stick it in the jar. Then over Thanksgiving dessert, (or anytime you need a boost) you can empty the jar and share the blessings.

Gratitude Tablecloth –

Another fun family tradition is to create your own Gratitude Tablecloth. You can cover a table (kids’ table perhaps?) with a paper cloth or butcher paper and put washable pens out for kids to write what they are thankful for. OR, (if you’re brave haha) you can use a cloth tablecloth with fabric markers and invite guests to write their name, the year, and something they are grateful for on the cloth. You can pull the same cloth out each year to add to the memories and to the gratitude!

Gratitude Tree –

A Gratitude Tree can be as simple or decorative as you like; the idea is to find a tree or a branch to put out, along with small card-stock paper and ribbons. Family members or guests can write what they are thankful for on the papers and hang them on the tree. Everyone can stop to look at these thankful ‘ornaments’ during your Thanksgiving celebration.

Favorite Gratitude Quotes:

A spirit of thankfulness is one of the most distinctive marks of a Christian whose heart is attuned to the Lord. Thank God in the midst of trials and every persecution. – Billy Graham

Thanksgiving is one of the best ways to keep yourselves in spiritual health. -Charles Spurgeon

We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good, if bad, because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country. – C.S. Lewis

When we choose thankful prayer over wallowing in anxiety and worry, we are demonstrating an unwavering trust in God. – Priscilla Shirer

It’s one thing to be grateful. It’s another to give thanks. Gratitude is what you feel. Thanksgiving is what you do. – Tim Keller

A sensible thanksgiving for mercies received is a mighty prayer in the Spirit of God. It prevails with Him unspeakably. – John Bunyan

For one who has made thanksgiving the habit of his life, the morning prayer will be, “Lord, what will you give me today to offer back to you?” Elisabeth Elliot

The DNA of joy is gratitude. – Paul David Tripp

Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it. – A.W. Tozer

The key to thankfulness is not to view God through the lens of our circumstances, but to view our circumstances through the lens of God’s love and sovereign purpose. Anne Graham Lotz

Favorite Gratitude Verses –

“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” -Psalm 9:1

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” – Hebrews 12:28

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful holiday! If you have a gratitude-inspiring tradition to add to my list I hope you’ll leave a comment below!