Dear Friends,
The National Day of Thanks has come and gone for this year, and while we were not able to celebrate it as we have done in past years, I hope you were able to thank people who have made a difference in your community and your life. You will have noticed over the last number of years that we have been emphasising gratitude and living a grateful way of life every...
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Thankful People are Happy People
Dear Friends,
Last Thursday I was taking some parcels to the Post Office. As I walked across the park opposite the Post Office, I noticed a bunch of flowers which had been placed on a park bench. My first thought was that someone had accidentally left them behind. I stopped and walked around to take a closer look. There was a note stapled to top of the wrapping paper. It...
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So Many People to Thank
Dear Friends,
During the past 15 or so years my wife and I have been involved with National Day of Thanks and we have seen a lot of changes during that time. We have had a few website changes over the years. Towards the end of last year, we turned a corner and National Day of Thanks became Thanks.org.au.
Most of our product sales in past years centred around balloons, ribbon...
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Being Thankful in Difficult Times
Dear Friends,
As we all travel through these difficult times there are so many people to thank, and we may think “how can I say Thank You when I am required to stay indoors?” Well, there are many ways to say Thanks. You could make good use of technology and send an “electronic” message. Or you could take a little time and write a thankyou letter or card and post it to the pe...
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Family Gratitude Challenge
Dear Friends,
How is everyone coping with staying at home? Hope you are all finding many opportunities to be creative in keeping in contact with family and friends. The difficulties and fears that abound in such a time as this COVID-19 Lockdown can be a big stress on members of the family and community, nevertheless it is necessary for the long-term safety of everyone. I ...
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Teaching Our Kids to Give Thanks in Everything
Dear Friends,
Annette Spurr, who is our Media person and also manages our Facebook, sent me a great article that she had written. Annette is a working mum with 2 boys in Primary School. What she has written is very relevant and I would like to share it with you as an encouragement and strength as we all negotiate these difficult times. Thanks Annette.
These school holi...
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Being Thankful in All Circumstances
Dear Friends,
When we released the Focus for 2020, we had just come through the horrific wildfires of December and early January which was preceded by the ongoing serious drought in our country regions. Now just two months later, we find ourselves in the midst of another very serious crisis, COVID-19, which requires us to seriously consider everything we do and how we go ab...
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Teach Children the Way They Should Go
Dear Friends,
In Prov 22:6 the Bible tells us to teach our children the way they should go and when they are old, they will not turn from that way. How do we teach our children The Way they should go?
We so often see that telling kids and others to “do this or do that” or “don’t do this and don’t do that” does not work. Well, there is a reason why this approach doesn’t work....
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Guess What?
Dear Friends,
In a previous email I spoke about our School Gratitude Program, and one of the responses we received was an email from Noel who lives in Innisfail far North Queensland. This is a story which demonstrates that what we say and how we treat other people can change their lives, and we may never know how many people we have helped.
Noel wrote:
In the 80's my wife ...
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Finding Thankfulness Amidst the Wildfires – Bonny’s Story
Dear Friends,
With the arrival of much needed rain and recovery efforts getting under way, stories are surfacing about people who survived the devastation of the Christmas/New Year fires. In times like these you would think it difficult to find things to be thankful for, and yet some wonderful stories are emerging. Stories that give us encouragement and hope and remind us w...
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