The Journey: Week Two: One Thousand Gifts

"Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation." Psalm 50:23 (NIV)

We had another amazing group study last evening as we journeyed through chapter two of our study on Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts.

Chapter two, A Word To Live and Die By, was a RICH chapter filled with all kinds of nuggets. We believe THIS is the chapter that really sets up the rest of the book. It sort of lays the ground work for what's to come in all of the later chapters.

The mutual feeling among most of us last evening was that THIS, too, was a difficult chapter in it's own right. A deep chapter. A thought-provoking chapter. But I think we were able to do some digging and found some real eye-opening wisdom within the pages of this chapter. We are praying that God will continue to open our hearts and minds to the truth and biblical applications of this book. We are boldly asking Him to change us in the process - to become women who find ourselves passionately in love with the Father!

Ann begins the chapter with 2 stories... one of a nightmare she is startled by wherein she is dying of cancer. It feels so real to her that she describes it like this, "waking to the crack of a nightmare, this violent shock through the veins..." (page 26). This nightmare scares her so that it jolts her into thinking... really thinking about this life and how MUCH she wants to live fully. She's not ready to die. She wrestles with the question on page 27, "Is that the message of nightmares and dreams? To live either FULLY alive... or in empty nothingness?"

And what does it mean to live FULLY? Really?

Is it the accumulating of more things?
Is it the visiting of more places?
Is it the packing of more events into our schedules?

Or could it be...

The deepening of our relationship with God?
The richness of our earthly relationships with others?
The laser-focused view of our eternal home in heaven?

Yes... I think THAT is where the full life is!

Ann continues with her second story of a letter she receives from her father-in-law who's wife had just recently passed away. In his own probable wrestling of life and death, he asks the question of his son and daughter-in-law, "Thinking on the beginning of this year, who does He call to come Home? Is it me, Lord? May I be ready. Or us. Whoever." (page 28)

She then asks herself on page 29, "Whoever. Ready for the end here. Whoever. Ready for the first meeting of Him there. Whoever. Soon. Will I have lived fully - or just empty?"

Living with the end in mind... will we be ready? And regardless of the answer - how do we live fully so we are fully ready to die?

Ann challenges us to begin thinking, then, what is it? If living the fullness of life isn't seeing more, doing more, being more, then what is it? Where is it? Isn't it here? Isn't the fullness of life RIGHT here? In this very moment. On page 31 she says, "Isn't it here? The wonder? Why do I spend so much of my living hours struggling to see it? Do we truly stumble so blind that we must be affronted with blinding magnificence for our blurry soul-sight to recognize grandeur?" She goes on to say, "I don't need more time to breathe so that I may experience more locales, posses more, accomplish more. Because wonder really could be here - for the seeing eyes."

Is it HERE for us to SEE... this fullness of life? And can we really SEE it?

Questions for discussion:

1.) A terrifying nightmare in which Ann dreams she is dying of cancer becomes a catalyst that helps her realize how much she really wants to live. How do you generally respond to your dreams? Do you write them down and ponder them, or do you not pay much attention to them?

2.) Studying the word EUCHARISTEO helped Ann to identify "holy joy" as the "more" she had been seeking (page 32). What do you think might be the key to unlocking your desire for the fuller life right where you are in the midst of your ordinary days?

We spent a lot of time on this word... Eucharisteo. What a beautiful word! And here is what we shared with the group:

Eucharisteo
Root Word = Charis (grace)
Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave THANKS.
He knew it to be a GIFT and gave THANKS.
Greek Word = Chara (joy)
As long as THANKS is possible, then JOY is always possible.

Think of it like a braid, this word Eucharisteo...
Charis. Grace.
Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving.
Chara. Joy.

Grace was provided to us by the Father (sending his son, Jesus).
Thanks is given by us to the Father.
Joy is received.
Through thank offerings is where we find JOY.

Eucharisteo - Thanksgiving - always precedes the miracle!

Eucharisteo - the Greek word with the hard meaning and the harder meaning to live - THIS is the only way to live... EMPTY to FULL!

3.) The author recalls stories from Jesus' life that illustrate the power of Eucharisteo, of thanksgiving: the Last Supper, the raising of Lazarus, the condemnation of Korazin, and Bethsaida (pages 34-37). When considering the context of these stories, we discover that Jesus is within HOURS of his own death, is grieved by the death of a dear friend, and is rejected by entire towns that experienced His miracles.

Why do you think Jesus chooses to offer thanks at such times?

Could it be that He KNEW what His mission was... WHY He had come to this earth... and He was simply leaving an example for us to live by? Jesus knew His own death was imminent. And he chose to give THANKS anyway! On page 36 Ann writes this, "Jesus offers THANKSGIVING for even that which will break Him and crush Him and wound Him and yield a bounty of joy (chara)." The part that brings me to utter tears is this, "And then what does Jesus directly do, in the face of apparent failure, when no one responded to His teaching and things didn't work out at all? He lives out Eucharisteo. In the midst of what seems a mess, in the tripping up and stumbling down of all hopes, Jesus gives THANKS?" I absolutely LOVE that she ends that with a question mark.

Is it really in the THANKS that real JOY can be found?

How does Jesus' use of gratitude in difficult circumstances inform or challenge your view of what it means to give thanks to God?

Ann ends this chapter with her apparent epiphany spilled onto the pages of 38 and 39. In review of the all-familiar story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers in Luke 17, Ann shares with us her discovery of the word sozo. In the story, Jesus heals all 10 lepers and sends them on their way. One leper decides to come back and thank Jesus for His healing. Jesus asks this leper... this one grateful leper, "Where are the other nine whom I also healed?" And then proceeds to tell him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." (Luke 17:17-19)

But hadn't Jesus already made him well with the others the first time?

In closer examination of the word Saved used in this context, the Greek translation is sozo, meaning "well" or "whole". But it's literal meaning? It is "to save". So - sozo means salvation? It means true wellness, complete wholeness. To live sozo is, then, to live the full life?

So - could it be, then, that our very saving is associated with our gratitude?

"Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever He gives. Thanksgiving is our manifestation of our YES to His grace. Thanksgiving is inherent to a true salvation experience; thanksgiving is necessary to live the well, whole fullest life." (page 39)

She ends the chapter on page 41 with this question, which I believe needs to be the questions we ask ourselves...

"Eucharisteo. The way through is hard. But do I really want to be saved?"

Below is the video from week two. (Remember to scroll to the bottom of the blog to pause the music from my playlist in order to hear this video.)

One Thousand Gifts: Chapter Two from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo.

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,