The Thanks Bank!

Our four-year-old son, Will, came running out of Sunday School this morning. He was so excited as he said to us, "Mom & Dad, I got to make a thanks bank today!" So, as usual, amidst the typical post-church flurry of kids being picked up, Sunday School papers flying about the halls, and other pandemonium, I asked casually, "What's a thanks bank?" I admit that I was concentrating on what to make for lunch, afternoon plans, and my general desire for a long nap, and I wasn't listening as well as I should. Will, however, didn't seem to notice, and began to explain, "My thanks bank is a way for me to say thank you to God for all the good things in my life. I drew pictures of the things I am thankful for and put them in the bank. It helps me remember that our word for the month in church in July is contentment."

Wow. Out of the mouth of babes, right? I stopped short there in the hall, and looked down at my sweet son, who is holding up a plain lunch bag with "THANKS BANK" written on it in red marker. He has filled it with little scraps of paper with pictures of simple things he is thankful for - the sun, a rainbow, and Mom & Dad. Suddenly, I am paying a lot closer attention as I ask him, "Will, what does contentment mean to you?" and he says simply, "It is deciding to be happy with what you've got. You and Dad should make a thanks bank, too!"

And that's what we did. Not thirty minutes after arriving home from church, we sat down with paper and crayons and made a family thanks bank. We had great fun drawing pictures of each other, Max the Dog's wagging tail, baseballs and bats, new baby brothers, swimming pools, flowers, maps of Vietnam, and crosses to symbolize Jesus. (Our Jesus portraits aren't so great, so we used a cross instead!) We are planning to keep adding to our thanks bank the rest of the summer. Will says we should get a really big bag, because we have plenty to go in it.

You know what? He's right. We have so much to go in it, that the largest shopping bag we could find would never suffice.

CONTENTMENT: It's deciding to be happy with what you've got.

As I read through Will's Sunday School paper this afternoon, the memory verse popped out at me. Phillippians 4:11-13 says, "...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being CONTENT in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do EVERYTHING through Him who gives me strength." I'm going to try to memorize this verse in the next couple of weeks. You might want to try it, too.

As Will would say, you might even try to make a thanks bank. You might be surprised just how big a bag you really need, if you take the time to write down all your thank yous to God. For my fellow adoption buddies, I'm not saying this lightly. I know that sometimes the wait is hard. Really hard. But Will may be on to something about this contentment thing. Contentment isn't having all you want to be happy, it's deciding to be happy with what you've got. Contentment doesn't mean that we won't be crossing off squares of the calendar each day - it's more about how we fill the squares up before they get crossed off.

And maybe, just maybe, thankfulness may be the real key to the riches in God's bank. So, I'm gonna start a sideline here on our blog page of things I'm depositing in my thanks bank. On the gray days, I'm hoping it brings me some encouragement. Hope it brings you some, too.