Thankful Memory Jars

Keep Thanks-Giving Going All Year Long

Here is a great activity for all ages, to keep thanks-giving going all year long. I developed this activity for my book entitled, “Supper with the Savior,” and recently introduced it at the retirement community where I am a chaplain (pictured above).

The activity is simple:

-Get a glass jar (such as one left over from pasta sauce), and clean it.

-Decorate the jar with stickers or glue on buttons, pieces of paper, feathers, etc.

-Put the jar on your kitchen or dining room table.

-Once a day or once a week, write or draw something on a slip of paper that you are thankful for. In my family, we did this on Saturday evening or Sunday brunch, in order to slow down and enjoy the Sabbath day.

-Put the slip of paper in the jar. If you live with others, you can choose whether or not to share what you have written.

-Every once in a while, review your Thankful Memories. and give thanks to God for his faithfulness throughout the years.

In the photo above, you can see a hymn book open to

“Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.” This hymn includes the words, “Bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore.”

There is rich theology behind this hymn and the Thankful Memory Jars. You can find this on pp. 9-10 of my book, where there is a line drawing based on this image below:

The top half of the image depicts the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, which became the first Communion. The lower half shows the people gathering manna which God the Father (top L hand corner) is raining down in the wilderness. (Exodus 16) You can see Moses in the R foreground, raising his staff.

These two images are connected because the Hebrew people expected manna to rain down from heaven again when the Messiah came (Isaiah 49:9). When Jesus came, he fed over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Then Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (John 6; pp. 19-20 in the “Supper with the Savior” PARTICIPANT GUIDE). This miracle that Jesus did in the wilderness points toward Communion, and how Christ invites us to meet with him and “feed on him” today.

The people kept a handful of manna in a golden jar, to remember how God had provided for them, and to tell future generations about it. They kept this jar in the Ark of the Covenant, along with Aaron’s rod and the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

And how does this all relate to the Thankful Memory Jar?

The thankful memory of God’s everyday provision of manna was “food” for them, for generations to come.

May your Thankful Memory Jar be a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness to you!

Join the conversation! What are you thankful for? What reminds you of God’s faithfulness?