Bible Reading: Psalm 136:1-9

"Our room is going to look so cool!" Ivy said as she set her brush down and took a seat on the floor. She and her twin sister, Elinor, had just finished painting their room completely black. After it dried, they were going to put star-shaped glow-in-the-dark stickers all over the walls.

"It's going to be like sleeping outside!" Elinor said.

"Okay, now we need to decide how we're going to put the stickers up," said Ivy. "Do we want to do some sort of pattern or just put them up randomly?"

Just then Mom walked in. "The walls look good, girls." She turned on the overhead light. "I'm glad you're going to add the stickers though, otherwise it would be pretty dark in here."

"Thanks, Mom," said Elinor. "That light helps--it's only three in the afternoon and it's already getting hard to see in here!"

"Yeah," said Ivy. "Can you imagine what it would be like if God had made the sky completely black, without any stars or light?"

"That would be pretty dark," replied Elinor. "Do you remember when we first moved here and we'd try to find the bathroom in the middle of the night with no lights on?"

"I do," said Mom. "You girls got so many bruises from running into things that we finally had to get a night light."

"Yes, and we were sure thankful for it!" Elinor picked up a star sticker from the floor. "I'm thankful God gives us night lights outside too. The stars and moon are beautiful to look at."

"And bright," added Ivy. "When the sky is clear and the moon is full, we don't even need the house light on to play basketball."

Mom nodded. "Sometimes we take for granted all that God has created and provided for us. It's important to remember to pause and thank Him for everything. I'm thankful that Jesus is the light of my life and that He loves me enough to die for my sins."

Ivy sat up. "Elinor, that gives me an idea for how we should arrange the stickers! Let's scatter them around, but in the center of one of the walls, we form the words 'Give Thanks.'"

"Let's do it!" said Elinor. "That will be a good reminder to thank God for everything He's done for us."

– Melissa Yeagle