Gratitude

I've always considered myself to be a fairly grateful person. You know... I'm grateful for the blessings I have. Grateful for the my husband, my daughter, my parents, the sun, my warm bed and that piece of chocolate cake I had last night. These are things I am thankful for... grateful for. Blessings.

But what if we started looking at GRATITUDE in a different kind of light.

Last month I began reading the most amazing book. Written by Ann VosKamp, writer for DaySpring, a division of Hallmark, One Thousand Gifts is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read!

Ann was challenged by a friend to journal 1,000 things she is grateful for. One thousand things. What started out as a dare from a sweet friend became, in her own words, a "hunt". Grabbing the first pieces of scrap she could find, she begin writing her list... yet another list... of gratefulness.

What makes Ann's list so unique, is her ability to see beauty in the seemingly small things. Her list includes things like... Wind flying cold in her hair, jam piled high on toast and mail in the mailbox. MAIL IN THE MAILBOX? How many of us can actually say we'd even THINK about being grateful for mail in the mailbox? I don't know about your mailbox, but mine seems piled high with more bills than I have money to pay. And she's thankful for mail in the mailbox?

But here's some of the things that Ann has to say about gratitude and thankfulness...

"Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever He gives."

"Jesus offers thanksgiving for even that which will break Him and crush Him and wound Him and yield to a bounty of joy." (Based on Jesus' gratefulness the night before going to the cross.) "He took bread, even the bread of death, and gave thanks."

"The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live... He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything."

"As long as thanks is possible, joy is always possible."

"Thanks is what multiplies the joy and makes any life large."

"Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant - a seed - this plants the giant miracle."

"When I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me."

"Life change comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change."

"I can always give thanks because an all-powerful God always has all these things - all things - always under control."

Truly and honestly inspired by Ann's writings on gratitude... this book has changed my life.

Isn't being thankful the point? Isn't living a life filled with gratitude and praise what God truly desires from His children? Seeing the beauty in everything. Living in the here and now. Making each moment count. Like the wind, these days will be gone in a flash. What are we soaking in NOW?

I was having lunch with a friend yesterday and her daughter was playing with my iPhone. She always enjoys seeing pictures of our golden, Buddy, and so it's become quite customary in our lunches together to allow her some time to see the latest pictures of our beloved pet.

In my attempt to locate one of our favorite photos, I began scrolling through the pictures. All 1,885 of them!! As the screen scrolled, flashes of photos went flying by. With one sweep of my finger, the days of our lives played out like a movie stuck on fast forward. Our life... in those photos... flashing by in an instant. The blink of an eye. As it turned out, I flew right past the one photo I was looking for and had to scroll back. More slowly this time. And pay attention. Or I would have missed it. Again.

God gives us opportunities every day to see His beauty. His magnificent blessings. But we have to be willing to slow down... or we'll miss it.

Martin Luther said, "If you want to change the world, pick up your pen."

And so begins... my journey... to my own 1,000 gifts. Blessings.















In the final moments that Jesus Christ shared with His disciples before He knew that He would willingly lay down His life on our behalf, what did He do?

“After He took bread, gave thanks, and broke it and gave it to them...”

In the original language, “gave thanks” is written eucharisteo. He gave thanks. He broke apart. He gave. The bread. Himself. Eucharisteo.

Eucharisteo... living joy, naming it, a life of thankfulness to God. One thousand gifts.

Can I do it? And beyond. We'll see. I think I can.

I've challenged Chloe to join me too. And how SWEET it is to see the things she's proposing to journal about. One thousand gifts through the eyes of a 10 year-old. Amazing stuff. Here's her first entry. How sweet is this?















Eucharisteo. Finding joy and living out that joy through thankfulness and gratitude to the One who makes living possible. Thank you Jesus!

In Philippians 4:11-12 Paul writes... "I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little."

There it is - the secret to living joy in every situation. Paul learned it... and so can we.

"... do this in remembrance of me." 1 Cor 11:25

Oh - and where am I in my quest to 1,000... number 46. By the way - number 45 is french fries. Just sayin'!

Will you join me in finding YOUR 1,000?

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,