I so love being with my four grandchildren, ages 10 thru almost 2, all girls except the youngest one. Last weekend, Doug (aka “GrandDoug” or GrandD”) and I hosted “cousin camp” for them, 48 hours of fun, complete with a camp song and t-shirts. We had baking and sewing lessons, safety camp, arts and crafts, games and puzzles, movie and popcorn, water sports… all in our home and yard, except for our “shopping spree” at the dollar store.
One particular tradition is that when the grands have a meal or snack with us, we play “Grammy’s Gratitude Game.” It offers some wonderful lessons for all of us about being aware and thankful. With each food or drink presented, I ask them to tell us, “How did this come to our table?” Where does it come from? Who all is involved in the process from it’s very beginning until this moment?
Their answers, depending on age, are insightful, sometimes really funny, and often have us writing down things to look up later, such as states or other countries on the map, towns or ingredients listed on labels, who makes grocery bags, how far do the truckers or other transporters have to go, nature, weather, nutrition…the list is endless.
We thank and bless each element of the process – the people, places, things that make up our meal that day, at the end, of course, being grateful to God as the Source for our supply and abundance.
We also keep on the table a little book “Grace” that I found in a used book store in Eureka, CA. It is filled with blessings for meals from many sources, Native American, traditional Christianity, early American, blessings from different countries and cultures. We take turns reading one with each meal, according to the reading ability of each grandchild, offering some lovely awareness of God’s complete presence in everything all the time, in all spaces and places, our Creator within and without.
As they get older, we are introducing the concept of how our actions and purchases influence others, and how to make those the most meaningful and impactful that we can, by sharing, being fiscally responsible, reducing waste, being environmentally aware of our choices.
Their parents are all on board with this, and are often amazed at how much we all learn in our gratitude game.
What a blessing to have this time with them, fostering such valuable communication. I can’t help but think in my absolutely completely biased and blinded-by-grammy-love perceptions that these brilliant children will grow up to be amazing people contributing to the good of the world, part of my heritage.
and I am GRATEFUL!