One Thousand Gifts

Isn't it amazing that the most simple of ideas can be the most profound and life-altering.  The book "One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are" by Ann Voskamp is just such a thing.  A dear friend of mine gave me a copy of this book one day at church with a note saying how much she had been encouraged by it's message.  On the ride home I decided to flip thru the first few pages.  I was immediately pulled in by her style of writing and by her open and honest journey to discover what gratitude really is all about.

What does gratitude look like in our daily lives?  Are we truly thankful for what God has given us?  Do we even see all that He has blessed us with?  The author is challenged to write out 1000 gifts that God has given her.  As she moves thru the process of listing these gifts her perspective on the things around her, even the most minute things, is changed.

I know many people who have started gratitude journals.  I've never been one to keep up with a journal but am definitely a list keeper so I loved the idea of a simple list.  I have started this list and have been finding myself looking for those gifts.  Looking for those things that I take for granted or overlook in the busyness of life; and when I see one...slowing down to truly appreciate and thank God for his love and care.  It's amazing how when you are focused on nourishing an "attitude of gratitude" so many other areas of your life are affected.  I am reminded over and over of how limited my sight is, how skewed my perspective is and how perfect God's plans are. 

Another of the challenges, which the author echoes from Scripture, is to give thanks in all circumstances ("in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18).  God's deep desire is for us to give thanks no matter what we face because our thanksgiving shows that we are trusting Him, that we truly believe He is good and His plans are good, that we can see beyond the temporal, to His eternal purposes.  Whether or not we understand the "whys" we can thank Him that everything he allows into our lives He will work for good (Romans 8:28) and that each circumstance we face is leading us further along in the perfect plans that God has for each one of us (Jeremiah 29:11).

Jesus, our greatest example, showed this attitude at His darkest hour:  

I Corinthians 11:23-25 "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: 

that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;  and 

when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is 

broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  In the same manner He also took 

the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood."  

"Facing the abandonment of God Himself (does it get any worse than this?), Jesus offers thanksgiving for even that which will break Him and crush Him and wound Him and yield a bounty of joy." (pg 36)

There are countless blessings that God gives each day, we must simply slow down, be still and truly see.