This is the beginning of my gobbler gratitude list. I’ll work on it more today and throughout the weekend. You can still download the template. Click on the links below the image. You can read more and look at more examples from Monday, November 20.
“Let us come before God with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” (Psalm 95:2 NIV)
For a family activity on Thanksgiving Day or during the holiday weekend, hand out colored pencils, markers, and a turkey template. In the spaces within the turkey and on the sides of the page, write, doodle, and color your “gratitude list.” If that seems too daunting, just notice the small things you are enjoying from the weekend–the smell of turkey, the colored leaves on the ground, the football games…no matter how small or insignificant they seem.In the center of the turkey choose a name for God: “Loving God, Gracious God, Holy One, Jesus….” Recite the above Psalm as you write words and color. Add more lines, dots, and designs to the page.
Below are examples of finished templates from past years and a template for this year.
The black and white turkey is this year’s template. You can download it by clicking on the link below it. Click on the .pdf or.jpg version below the template. Download first, then print. Feel free to make multiple copies and to share it with others. You can Share this post on Facebook, Twitter,…. If you receive this post as an email, you will need to go the actual blog site to Share. (https://prayingincolor.com/blog)
Happy Thanksgiving.
2018 Gratitude Gobbler
Templates for earlier versions of the turkey are available for download on my Handouts Page.
“Let us come before God with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” (Psalm 95:2 NIV)
For a family activity on Thanksgiving or during the holiday weekend, here are three templates to use for gratitude prayers. One is new this year, two are from previous years. In the spaces within the turkey and on the sides of the page, write and doodle/color your “gratitude list.” In the center of the turkey choose a name for God: “Loving God, Gracious God, Holy One….” Sing or hum or recite the above Psalm as you write words and color. Add more lines, dots, and designs to the page.
Give each person in the family a gobbler template or pass one copy around the table and let each person fill in one of the spaces with a word of thanksgiving, doodles, and color.
Choose the template you like. Click on the .pdf or.jpg version below the template. Download first, then print. Feel free to make multiple copies and to share it with others. You can Share this post on Facebook, Twitter,…. If you receive this post as an email, you will need to go the actual blog site to Share. (https://prayingincolor.com/blog)
Below the black and white templates are examples of previous years’ completed gratitude gobblers.
A Blessed Thanksgiving to all.
2016 Gobbler .PDF or .JPG 2015 Gobbler .jpg or .pdf
“Let us come before God with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” (Psalm 95:2 NIV)
For a Thanksgiving Day activity with family and friends, pass out the Gratitude Gobbler prayer page with some colored markers, pencils, or crayons. Invite people to list their thanksgivings in or around the turkey. I often start with a name for God in the middle, so it feels like a prayer rather than just a list. Using the coloring page can also create a solitary prayer time in the midst of a hectic day.
I was tired of the “hand” turkeys I had drawn for the past couple of years, so this year’s template is a little wilder and more abstract. If this gratitude gobbler is a little too goofy for you, trace around your hand to make your own template. Or check out last year’s gobbler coloring page: 2015 My finished prayer using this year’s template is below.
There are both .pdf and .jpg versions of the template available. Click on the version you want below. Download the page first, then print it. Feel free to make copies to share.
“For the Beauty of the Earth, Sing, Oh Sing Today
Of the Skies and of our birth, Sing, Oh Sing, always.
Nature, Human and Divine, all around us lies,
Lord of All to Thee we raise grateful hymns of praise.”
These simple and beautiful words are from the “Canticle of Brother Sun” from the Missa Gaia by Jim Scott and Paul Winter (Litchfield, CT, Living Music Records, 1982). This is one of my favorite thanksgiving songs.
This year’s turkey is a gratitude journal of all of the things I am grateful for from this unique year in Colorado. As I wrote, drew, and prayed, more and more things kept coming to me. It was as if gratitude was an exponential function. First I was grateful for one thing, then two more, then four more, then eight more, then sixteen more, then thirty-two more…. Lest you think I am a pious pollyanna who reeks of gratitude, be not deceived. I am a grateful person, but I am equally an ungrateful, cranky, and cynical person. Maybe I should do this visual gratitude list more often. I could think of so few things for which I was ungrateful. But I notice how much space and energy those few things can take up in my mind and life.
If you want to try your hand at filling in the blank Gratitude Gobbler, here are the two versions: .jpg OR .pdf. Just remember to download first, then print.
