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Object: The activity for this message is the Be Thank You! game.

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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have an easy question for you. Can anyone tell us what is special about today? (Let them respond.) It’s Thanksgiving, isn’t it? I told you it was an easy question. And what do we do on Thanksgiving? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we eat food, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And sometimes we visit with our friends and family, right? (Let them respond.) But one of the things we try to do on Thanksgiving is think about things that we are thankful for, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) Well, I have been thinking about being thankful, and that’s what my game is about that I want us to play. And to start our game, I have another question.

Can anyone remember of a time that someone said something nice to you, or did something for you, or gave you something, and when they did it you said, “Thank you!”.Can anyone tell us a time you did that? (Let them respond and draw them out a bit.) It is really nice when we say, “Thank you!”, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But let me ask you something else. Have you ever said, “Thank you!” to someone, but maybe you were busy, or tired, and you just automatically said, “Thanks!” to someone and didn’t really think about it all that much. You said “Thanks!” but didn’t really mean it. Have you ever done that? (Let them respond.) I think we have all done that, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes it is just too easy to say, “Thank You!”, and we say it without really meaning it, isn’t it? So, we aren’t really being thankful, are we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we just say the words we are supposed to say and don’t really mean them all that much. And that’s what my game is about.

I want us all to imagine a time when someone did something really nice for us and it made us feel really good. Can we all think of something like that? (Let them respond.) And when that happens, we usually smile and say, “Thank You!”, don’t we? (Let them respond.) But, for our game, instead of saying “Thank You!”, I want you to use your imagination a little bit more. Instead of just saying “Thank You!” to that person, I want you to see if you can think of something you could do to show you are thankful, instead of just saying “Thank You!”. Instead of just saying “Thank You!”, can you think of a way you could BE “Thank You!” for that person? If you can think of something you could do to BE “Thank you!”, stand up or raise your hand. (Let those who stand or raise a hand respond and draw them out.) Maybe you just look at them and give them a big smile, and maybe even a nice high-five. Or, if you know them, maybe you might give them a hug. Can anyone think of other ways you could BE “Thank you!” to someone? (Let them respond.) Those are great ideas. You are doing a great job playing my game.

But there is one more part to my game. Sometimes we say, “Thank You!” to God, too, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And sometimes when we do that, we are kind of tired or busy and don’t really think about that all that much either, do we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we say “Thank You!” to God but don’t really mean it very much.So, just like with the people we are thankful for, who can think of some ways we can BE “Thank You!” to God, instead of just saying “Thank You!”? (Let them respond and draw them out.)

I’ll bet you remember that Jesus told us that, more than anything else, God wants us to take care of each other, don’t you? (Let them respond.) So, maybe one of the best ways we can BE “Thank You!” to God is if we do something to help other people who need our help. I think that is the best way we can show just how thankful we are for how God takes care of us.

Now, let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.

Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.