Week Six: One Thousand Gifts

"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple."
Psalm 27:4 (NIV)

We had another amazing night at book club last night! I have to admit I am sad that we are already half way through the book. As one of our participants said, it feels as though we have to do the book over again to really get this discipline deep down in our souls. And it's true. There is so much to this book that I would encourage you to take the time to read it through again if you get a chance. I found that I got SO much more out of it when I took the time to read it again and I even found sometimes that reading ALOUD was very helpful as well. Ann's writing style can be a little hard at times... to fully comprehend, so that is just a way I found works really well to really absorb what's she's trying to communicate.

Please know that we are PRAYING for each and every one of you all the time! We are SUPER excited for this book club - and too, for those of you who are joining us online - we are THRILLED to have you! We are praying that God would reveal Himself to you through the pages of this brilliant book, One Thousand Gifts.

This week we reviewed Chapter six, What Do You Want? The Place of Seeing God. This was the story about the moon! On page 102, Ann's sweet husband, who understands her souls desire for finding beauty... for counting gifts (she had already been naming gifts for many months at this point and had passed 1,000), tells her, "You will want to see this."

In the rushing and chaos of her day - he interrupts her softly, inviting her to see something he KNOWS she won't want to miss. THE MOON. But for a moment, in her rush to put food for 8 on the table, she finds herself slightly irritated. Not at him, so much, as the disturbance of the rushing.

And for a moment I am Ann. And I can feel the irritation. I've been distracted... disturbed... momentarily by something that takes me away from the concentration that "the thing" is begging from me... and I can feel the same frustrations in myself.

But he... the husband... who knows the woman counting graces would be so hurt to have missed the opportunity to SEE this... THE MOON! "The moon rounds immense, incandescent globe grazing ours." (page 105)

But then again, it's just a moon. We'll see another. Or will we?
But then again, it's just a moon. We've seen one before. Or have we?

SEEING the moon THAT night was as if she were FINALLY seeing with eyes wide open.

Surely there had been another moon so... so magnificant before... but where had she been? Sleeping the whole time? And HOW had she missed such beauty... beauty that was RIGHT in front of her?

And yet aren't we that way?

Don't we notice beauty around us - but truly fail to SEE the beauty in it? The God-beauty?

On page 107 she speaks of Jacob, waking from sleep before full moon rising, "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn't even aware of it!'" (Genesis 28:16-17).

Isn't Jacob's words, our words? SURELY the Lord is in THIS place, and I wasn't even AWARE of it!

Surely I have been a witness to some beautiful sun rises... but did I fail to notice that the Lord was in it?
Surely I have seen the birth of my child... but did I fail to SEE that the Lord was there too?

And what about in the trees, or in rain, or in the falling leaves or the sunset or the ocean?

Are we really, truly choosing to SEE with eyes wide open?

"The only place we have to come before we die is the place of seeing God." (page 108)

Of SEEING God.

That's it!

I want to SEE God. In everything.

In the good. In the ordinary. In the spectacular. In the pain. In the suffering. In the light. And the dark.

I want to SEE God.

Because God is good and I am always loved.

Always.

I want to be paying attention.

On page 111 Ann writes, "I pay tribute to God by paying attention."

I want to be paying attention. I don't want to MISS it!

Because what if THIS is the last moon I will be able to SEE with these human eyes?

What if?

And Ann beckons us to ask the question of ourselves. The one she's wrestled with herself...

If I can see God in the beauty, can I, too, then, go back into the chaos of my life and find beauty THERE?

Can I see God HERE? And in turn can I find JOY here too?

Because joy can be found where God is found... so can I find God here? In the mess I've made? In the pain I've suffered? In my frailty and weakness?

God CAN be there too!

She closes the chapter with this on pages 120 and 121...

"The world I live in is loud and blurring and toilets plug and I get speeding tickets and the dog gets sick all over the back step and I forget everything and these six kids lean hard into me all day to teach and raise and lead and I fail hard and there are real souls that are at stake and how long do I really have to figure out how to live full of grace, full of joy - before these six beautiful children fly the coop and my mothering days fold up quiet? How do you open the eyes to see how to take the daily, domestic, workday vortex and invert it into the dome of an everyday cathedral? Could I go back to my life and pray with eyes wide open? Praying with eyes wide open is the only way to pray without ceasing."

Can we see... and count gifts (praying)... with eyes wide open?

Will you choose to SEE the amazing gifts He gives?

Because, truly, they are ALL around us!

Let's choose to SEE them together!

Praying for you!

Below is the video from week six. (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 6 from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo.

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Balance

It is no longer just a good idea to develop a habit of spending time in prayer and preparation for our days... it is CRITICAL to the success of lives.





The following is my speech today at a women's luncheon. I was asked to share my vision for women of this county...



For seven years I served on staff at a local church full time. It was a dream come true for me as I was finally in a position where I was getting paid to do work that I REALLY REALLY loved to do. You see, I am a lover of people and I genuinely care about seeing people reach their highest potential. And what better place to use my gifts and talents in combination with my natural desire to help others grow. I was serving God. I was doing some great things. I was involved in the high calling of making a difference in the hearts and lives of other people. I was invested at a very deep level with Kingdom business, and it was fantastic. But I remember being asked a question in my 7th year of ministry by one of my office volunteers that would alter the course of my life in a pretty profound way. The question she asked me was this..

"When do you find time to do your quiet time with God?"

I have to admit that I was stopped right there in my tracks. How did she know? How could she possibly have known that it had been MONTHS... and I do mean MONTHS... since I could honestly say I was committed to a regular quiet time with God. Here I was fully immersed into full-time ministry working the hardest I had ever worked at anything in my entire life. I was working a minimum of 55 hours a week - not including the events I was serving in as a volunteer. I was attending meetings, facilitating meetings, organizing classes, conducting orientations and trainings, meeting with volunteers, managing an office, hosting events and providing direction for scores of volunteers serving in multiple areas of the church all while being a mom, wife and homemaker. To say I was busy is an understatement. I needed a calendar to keep track of my calendar.

And I'm not complaining. I truly loved every minute of it. I thrive on the busyness. I get the most accomplished when I am rushing headlong into a deadline. I enjoy the stress of the last minute race to fulfill a 3-page to do list. But what I didn't notice was that my life was WAY out of balance.

Oh the meetings and the community events and the classes... they were all really good things. I was RICHLY BLESSED to have been able to be a part of some amazing work with some pretty amazing people. But somewhere in the rushing and the hectic-ness of ministry, I had forgotten the most important aspect to the growth and success of the work I was doing. In my passion to serve God... I had... in essence, left Him out. This was His show... His production... and I had unknowingly and unpurposely left Him out. And it wasn't until my sweet friend asked me that question that I realized that some serious changes needed to happen in my life.

I think that many of you would agree with me when I say that balance in life is a hard thing. And let's face it - we, women, carry a heavy load these days. Many of us work full-time jobs outside of the home, we're involved in our communities, we serve in our churches, we volunteer at our local schools, we cook meals, we manage household finances, we clean toilets, we grocery shop, we organize the home calendar, we do dishes, we do laundry, we run errands, we remember birthdays, anniversaries, shop for Christmas presents, iron, vacuum, and take care of the pets... not to mention the other hats we wear - taxi cab driver, nurse, pharmacist, counselor, teacher... and somewhere in that chaos we're supposed to have time to be a loving wife, good friend and honorable, contributing society member.

I don't know about you - but even glancing over the list of the responsibilities us women have makes me exhausted! It's no wonder we're burned out... wasted... depleted of physical strength and stressed out to the point of seeking medical attention. It's no wonder divorce is on the rise, that anti-depression medication is being sought after by 1 in every 10 Americans... (having grown 400 percent between 1988 and 2008). It's no wonder we are tired and unbalanced. This is quite the juggling act we've become accustomed to.

But in all my experience of dealing with a full schedule, I've come to the understanding that I can NOT be the person God has called me to be without making time with Him the first and most important priority of my day. You see - I believe that somewhere in our translation of success and victory, we've become confused. In our evaluation of priorities we've become unbalanced. And as much as we desire to WIN in our professional life and in our home life, we have GOT to come to a place where we recognize our complete dependency on the Giver of life... the One in Whom all success is possible and graciously provided.

I truly believe that God's desire for us in regard to balance and priorities is more simple than we've made it out to be. I believe God's order of priorities for Christ-followers is this:

God first
then spouse, children, parents, extended family, brothers and sisters in Christ, and then the rest of the world.

But haven't we complicated this method? Haven't we made it all about us? Our children? The calendar? The next thing "to do"? The next race to the finish line?

And yet that is not what was intended for us.

Balance and priorities go hand and hand and so when I was asked to speak at this luncheon on my vision for women of Lenawee County it made best sense for me to speak on the one thing I have personally struggled with the most... balance and priorities.

And I wish I had a 3-step formula that would help all of us in our pursuit of order and balance - but I don't. I wish I could tell you that it's as simple as A-B-C... but that would not be accurate.

What I do know is that to obtain balance we must be willing to come to the end of ourselves... empty and prepared to be filled daily by God's power and strength.

I told someone recently that I would be quite pleased if I could simply add ONE more day to my current week - giving me just ONE extra day to get accomplished all that I need to get accomplished. Can you even imagine that? Asking for ONE MORE week day to an already jam-packed week? How insane does this sound? And it was in my complaining of needing one more day in my week that the thought crossed my mind... "And just WHAT would you do with that one more day?" Would I fill it up with more STUFF? Probably. Would I waste it worrying about the things I can't control? Perhaps. Just one more day. Just one more day.

John 10:10 says this, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Jesus came as the ultimate sacrifice that we might have a FULL life. Not a mediocre life. Not a life consisting of just getting by... but a FULL life. Some versions say an ABUNDANT life.

And "full" is not racing to the next thing. Attending the next meeting. Volunteering at one more sporting event. Full, in my opinion, is living the balanced life where God is the central component. Living the full, abundant life is yielding to God's order of priorities for His children. Living the full life is beginning each day with a confession of dependency to the one who grants us this one more day.

I read something recently that said, "What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"

WOW. Sadly, for some of us that wouldn't leave us with much.

I believe we are living in an amazing age where women are making a dynamic difference in the world. We are doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists, marine biologists, chemists, bible study leaders, counselors, business owners, homemakers, nurses, interior decorators, pastors, web designers, chefs and accountants. And it doesn't matter which category you fall under - we have tremendous responsibility.

It is no longer just a good idea to develop a habit of spending time in prayer and preparation for our days... it is CRITICAL to the success of lives.

The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. The thief can be the thing that takes us away from our alone time with God. The thief can be the schedule that owns us. The thief can be those things that keep us from living the full life... the abundant life... that God desires for each of us to have. But Christ... He came to give us the full life... and I don't know about you - but that's the life that I want. The full life. The balanced life. The life centered around His goodness... and His mercy and His grace.

It has been said that we give the most attention to the things that we consider to be the most importance in our lives. And I believe that in order to live in the fullness and participate in the most important things of our lives, we must be willing to give our primary attention to the One from Whom all blessings flow from. To me - it is the KEY to living the balanced life.

And so I ask you the same question I was asked... ""When do you find time to do your quiet time with God?"

Maybe it's getting up an extra few minutes early in the morning.
Maybe it's turning the television off a half hour sooner at night.
Maybe it's sitting alone in your car on your lunch hour.
Maybe it's locking yourself in the bathroom with a sign taped to the door - Mom is unavailable for 15 minutes... do not disturb!

It is my prayer... my vision... for women of Lenawee County to recognize their full-potential in Christ. We CAN live the full life. We CAN make a difference in our community. We CAN change lives and we CAN leave a lasting legacy when God calls us home. We can do all things... only because it is Christ who gives us strength.

I urge you to call on Him. He is crazy about you and He longs to hear what You have to say! He's waiting to be the only strength you need to do all the amazing things you're going to do!

Press on women!! Press on!

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Week Five: One Thousand Gifts

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job 1:21 (NKJV)

Chapter 5, What in the World, in all the World, is Grace, was a difficult chapter. This was the chapter about the hard eucharisteo. Ann tells us the story of her sweet 7-year-old boy, Levi, who when working in the barn doing chores, puts his hand through a fan blade. As she runs to her son, unsure of what she'll see when she gets there, fear fills her body. And she knows... that THIS might be it. "The hard eucharisteo." As she describes on page 80. And she admits, "Now I know that I don't want to know it yet... Ever."

We pick back up on the bottom of page 80, top of page 81, when Ann and Levi return to the house following a three-hour hospital visit. "He has a hand." Ann says to her mom who knows the loss of a child. Who has lived the hardest eucharisteo. "He's cut up bad. But only the index is broken. They're booking us for a surgeon."

And in that moment... relief.
In that moment... praise.

But she wrestles with the tough question of this word... grace.

"And if his hand had been right sheared off?" She asks. "What of God's grace then? Can I ask that question?"

It's one thing to be thankful and to praise God in the good times. When things are going well. When we are in good health, when we are surrounded with the ones we love. When we get good grades. When our marriage is flourishing. When it's sunny. When bills get paid.

But what happens in those hard moments when God's grace is more difficult to see? What then?

Perspective is found on page 82 when Ann reflects back on what she hears on the radio on their way home from the hospital. "The obituaries after the noon farm news. A 13-year-old Mennonite boy, just down the road from the red-roofed dairy farm my husband grew up on. A farm boy, an accident. Date of death. Siblings. Funeral details. No mention of the state of his mama's heart, delta fractures slitting her through."

A boy. Only 13-years-old. Death. Tragic. Sudden. No warning.

Isn't THIS this hard stuff we've feared?

We're all faced with these hard days.

Maybe it was a call from a doctor... bad test results.
Maybe it was a call from a sibling... death of a parent.
Maybe it was a call from the school... a hurt child.

Maybe, like me, it was a call from a friend. A call that would rattle me to the core when I was only 18. Nothing up to that point had been harder. A call that came from a classmate in the middle of the afternoon. "Are you alone?" He asked. WHY was he asking this? Why in the world would it matter? "Yes." I said. "What happened?" And then I felt it. Maybe it's what I heard in his silence. Maybe it was the peircing sound of the silence that followed that gave way for fear to seep in. But I knew something bad had happened. Nothing could have prepared me. I hadn't rehearsed this part. And then it came, "Robbie's been in an accident, Wendy. And he didn't make it."

"He didn't make it."

In that single moment I couldn't define these words. I could not make them out. I heard him... but I didn't know what that meant. Didn't make it?

And then the whole world went black.

A shooting accident that claimed the life of my friend was a turning point in my life. It's amazing how these things change us. For me it was as if the life I had known up to that point ended. And a new one began. The old me was no longer. I was now looking through the lens of grief. Pain. Sadness. The hard eucharisteo.

And I had known Jesus. I had known about this love. This forgiveness. This grace?

But where was grace the day my sweet friend was ripped away, violently, from this world?

And I read it again on the pages of this book and I am reminded... "God is always good and I am always loved." (page 100)

Always.

And isn't that what life is? A balance of the grace moments and curse moments? And then what about thanksgiving? If in the grace moments we are thankful... what are we to do in the curse moments?

Perspective.

I love how her eyes are opened to the perspective.

"I hang up the phone" she says, "and I stand for a long while, just watching Levi breathe. Watching Levi live. He had an extra serving of ice cream on his plate last night and licked the mint right off his plate. He might not have. He slept in a bed last night, on clean sheets, and beside his brother. What if he hadn't? He woke and walked out across the dew grass this morning, the blades all sewed up in dangled gossamer of spiders. Why him? He worked alongside his dad in the barn, swept the broom hard; and when his dad said he was growing quite the muscles, he had laughed. He might not have. Who deserves any grace?" (page 93)

"Why are we allowed two?" Ann asks. "Why lavished with three? A whole string of days? Isn't even one grace enough?" (page 93)

Perspective. How we see.

And how can these pain moments lead to gratitude? CAN we be thankful through the pain? In the midst of pain?

How can we possibly be thankful for the death of a child? For the ominous diagnosis? For the accidents and the senseless crimes and the pure heartbreak? How?

Because the pain will come. For each and every one of us. One day. Maybe today. Maybe next month. Maybe 12 years from now. But it will come. And there's no warning. It will. Just. Come.

In chapter five's video I am reminded of the resurrection.

The resurrection was bloody. It was painful. It was messy. It was the hardest eucharisteo the world has ever seen.

And yet THROUGH the nail-pierced hands we can find hope.
THROUGH the blood-soaked rags we can find strength.
THROUGH the brutal beating we can find refuge.

Not IN this pain... but THROUGH this pain.

Because God wastes nothing. He "makes everything work out according to His plan." (Eph 1:11).

He wastes nothing. Not even your pain. Because God's grace... really is enough.

In the video Ann so appropriately illustrates how gratitude NOW paves the way for dealing with the darkness LATER. She says there's no warning for darkness, but we can prepare ourselves by practicing the discipline of gratitude so that when the days come we have a foundation to stand on.

It's what she calls the ugly-beautiful. "That which is perceived as ugly transfigures into beautiful." And she continues, "The ugly can be beautiful. The dark can give birth to life; suffering can deliver." (page 99)

God is always good and I am always loved. There it is again.

She closes the chapter... "Because eucharisteo is how Jesus, at the Last Supper, showed us how to transfigure all things - take the pain that is given, give thanks for it, and transform it into a joy that fulfills all emptiness."

God wants our questioning of Him to be smaller and our desire for Him to be bigger. Because I am convinced that He is using the pain in our lives to transfigure it and redeem it into something beautiful that only He can use for His glory! The question now is will we allow Him full access to transfigure our ugly into beautiful?

I am praying for each and every one of you.

Thank you for continuing on this journey with us!

Below is the video from week five. (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 5 from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo.

We would LOVE to hear your story of redemption! How has God taken the ugly in your life and made it beautiful? In class on Thursday nights we are each participating in a challenge... To reflect on and record 3 evidences of God's grace towards you. And if you are willing - we'd LOVE for you to use this place to share with us how God is transfiguring the pain you've experienced. Simply click on the COMMENTS link just below this post.

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Scripture Memory: October 15

I am in the middle of an amazing bible study on the life of David in the Old Testament. And what an amazing study this has been! I am learning so much about this man, David, who was beautifully called A Man After God's Own Heart. Oh how I LONG to have the virtues of David!

Just after David began his 40-year reign over Israel, he penned the words written in 2 Samuel 7:18-29, offering thanks to God for His grace and for bringing him THIS FAR. In his quite time with God he sits before Him and says these beautiful words that will be my verse for October 15...

2 Samuel 7:18 (NLT)
"Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed, 'Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?'""

I, like King David, beg of my Savior, "WHO AM I... that You would choose to bring me this far? WHO AM I... that You would choose to bless me in all these ways? WHO AM I? WHO AM I?

Thank you, Father, for your faithfulness to your lowly servant!

What's YOUR verse for October 15?

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Week Four: One Thousand Gifts

"We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it." Psalm 39:6 (NLT)



Chapter 4, A Sanctuary Of Time, was a PACKED chapter. I will admit that when I first read this chapter I said to myself, "Could this really be ALL about a bubble? A soap sud? Really?" But as we discussed last night - it is SO much more than that. This chapter really challenges readers to slow down. To discover what it means to live this one life well. To experience the full life in the midst of the hurry and the running and the getting to.. the... next... thing.

How do we slow time down?

How do we stop living life as if it were an emergency? Because life is NOT an emergency!

And what does it mean to have not MORE time... but ENOUGH time?

Ann begins this chapter with her observation of a another gift to add to her list... #362, Suds... all color in sun.

And it's this sud that opens her eyes wide to the gift of time. Making time. As she says on page 64, "I only see it because I'm looking..."

I only see it because I'm looking.

What other things do we miss because we are in such a hurry? What other beautiful gifts have we allowed to pass us by simply because we were not paying attention?

Could it be that this hunt for gifts... for all things beautiful... is JUST the thing that will allow us to slow time down?

Hurry makes us hurt... (isn't that called stress? And don't we do that to ourselves... unnecessarily?)

Hurry empties a soul.

Think about it. I was just saying last week that all would be right in the world if I could just have ONE more day in the week to get accomplished the things I need to get accomplished. Just one more day I begged for. But is it really MORE time I need? Or is it ENOUGH time that I need? Because wouldn't I just fill that ONE MORE day with even MORE unnecessary things? Who really wants more time for worry? Guilt? Shame? More running of errands. More spending money we don't have. More schedules. More crises. Really? Is that what I want?

I love the beautiful way Ann writes it on the top of page 68... "I just want time to do my one life well."

That's it!

My hearts desire is to take this one life I have been given and live it... well! Oh how I long to hear the words of my Savior... "Well done good and faithful servant." (Matt 25:21)

Receiving gifts... naming them... and thanking God for them... is our only hope for slowing time down because it begs for our full attention NOW. One page 69 Ann remembers the words of her sister, "Where you are, be all there." She continues, "I have lived the runner, panting ahead in worry, pounding back in regrets, terrified to live in the present, because here-time asks me to do the hardest of all: just open wide and receive."

And isn't that harder to do?

But "This"... Ann writes, "is where God is."

And I WANT to be where God is.

So could it be as easy as one simple formula... Giving thanks = more time.

I LOVE her analogy on pages 71 and 72.

In John, chapter 6, the story so many of us are familiar with, is the story of Jesus feeding 5,000. Jesus and His disciples had just crossed over the Sea of Galilee, when a huge crowd began following them. It was nearing time for the annual Passover celebration and they were in need of some food to feed themselves and the large crowd that had gathered. And there was nothing. The only thing that was available was a young boy's lunch which consisted of five barley loaves and two fish. "But what good is this with a huge crowd?" Andrew asked. (verse 9) (Oh I can SO see myself in that boy Andrew, can't you? Doubting the very One who had just come from performing all kinds of miracles. Don't we KNOW the miracle worker and still doubt His amazing abilities?)

After gathering the loaves of bread and the fish, Jesus "took the loaves and gave thanks to God and passed them out to the people." (verse 11). John goes on to write, "And they ate until they were full." Jesus even responds to His disciples, "'Now gather up the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.'" (verse 12)

Stop!

What just happened?

Jesus had only FIVE loaves of bread. BARELY enough to feed the 13 of them... let alone FIVE THOUSAND!

Jesus had five loaves of bread and what did He do?

He gave thanks. Those two words. The "bridge words" as Ann calls them. "The crossing over that took the not enough and made it enough."

He gave thanks. There it is again... Eucharisteo.

"Jesus embraces His not enough... He gives thanks... And there is more than enough."

That's it. Again. The miracle of thanks.

Oh what being grateful does. It multiplies the blessing!

So... Jesus gives thanks for the five loaves of bread and it multiplies.
Could we give thanks, then, for the moments so that those, too, can multiply?

Is that the secret to getting more time?

Ann says it best on page 72, "The real problem of life is never a lack of time. The real problem of life - in my life - is lack of thanksgiving."

"Life is a dessert." Ann says, "You don't wolf it down." (page 77)

Wherever you are... be all there.
Life is not an emergency.
Giving thanks = more time.
Slow down long enough to see the miracles.

Because I'm with Ann... "I want to savor long whatever time holds."

And it IS fleeting.

Below is the video from week four. (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 4 from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo.

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Scripture Memory: October 1

Once again... the date for the Scripture Memory snuck up on me and I totally forgot to post my verse. ALTHOUGH I must say I was thinking about it... I just failed to post it. So - here it is. Almost a week late. Forgive me?

This month's verse has been SUCH an inspiration to me this year. It comes from the Apostle Paul and in his letter to the church in Philippi he pens the words of my October 1st memory verse:

Phil 4:11-12
"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 full stomach or empty, with plenty or little."

I pray that we can ALL be inspired to live like Paul did. Content with what we have. Grateful for everything... little or small. Satisfied.

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Week Three: One thousand Gifts

"I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving." Psalm 69:30 (KJV)




Can I just say how BLESSED I am to be doing life alongside of some amazing women?? Last night we wrapped up chapter three of our study on Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts.

Chapter three, First Flight, was an uplifting and encouraging chapter. Unlike the first two chapters, which were a little more difficult to get through, this chapter felt like we FINALLY arrived at the meat of the book.

What started out as a DARE from a friend to list 1,000 things she was grateful for, truly turned into her life's mission... a "hunt" as described by Ann herself, to find all things beautiful in a messy, messy world.

We were all encouraged by the words Ann quotes on page 44 from Pierre de Caussade, "When one is thirsty one quenches one's thirst by drinking, not by reading books which treat of this condition." "If we are dying of thirst", Ann says, "passively reading books about water quenches little; the only way to quench the parched mouth is to close the book and dip the hand into water and bring it to the lips. If we thirst, we'll have to drink. I would have to DO SOMETHING."

Kind of like reading God's word. We can read the book all day long. We can memorize scripture. We can be filled with knowledge of His truths, His grace and His love... but if we want it to change us... to REALLY change us from the inside out... we have to DO something. Reading about how to walk in His love will do little for us. We have to take the first steps of obedience and faith.

And so we see Ann's list begin. This naming of 1,000 things she is grateful for:

1.) Morning shadows across the old floor.
2.) Jam piled high on toast.
3.) Cry of blue jay from high in the spruce.

And she says as she begins, "This writing it down - it is sort of like... unwrapping love."

Philippians 4:11-12 is such an inspiring piece of scripture, "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."

That boy Paul... oh he got it! I want to learn how to live this out too... don't you?

Ann says, "Gratitude in the midst of death and divorce and debt - that's the language I've got to learn to speak - because that's the kind of life I'm living, the kind I have to solve." (page 47)

And so as Martin Luther King once said, "If you want to change the world, pick up your pen."

Can it really be that simple? Perhaps!

Questions for discussion:

1.) Ann accepts a dare from a friend to begin a list, not of gifts she wants, but of gifts she already has. A gratitude list.

Have you ever made a gratitude list? If so, what prompted you to do so? How did the experience impact your relationship with God?

I can say from personal experience that starting my list of gratitude changed my life in MORE ways than I can ever tell you! I think for me, it was in the discovery of the little things I had always taken for granted. Here's some of those from my own personal journal...

11.) Smiles from a friend.
34.) Date night with the hubs.
59.) S'mores at summer bonfires.
75.) The smell of cinnamon.
93.) Air condition.
141.) Bowl full of beautiful red, ripe strawberries.

And so, too, began my list. Could I make it to 1,000? I will see. I'm on my way... 527 to be exact. And still counting.

Is it difficult? Not really. Why? Because beauty is really all around us. Every day. The question shouldn't be can we do it... instead the question ought to be, can we SLOW DOWN long enough to SEE what's been there all along?

2.) Among the first gifts on Ann's list are these:

~ Morning shadows across the old floor.
~ Jam piled high on toast.
~ Cry of blue jay from high in the spruce.
~ Leafy life scent of the florist shop.
~ Wind flying cold wild in hair.

Each gift appeals to one of the five senses - something Ann can see, taste, hear, smell or feel. Thinking back on the last 24 hours, use your senses to name five things for which you are grateful - your own mini gratitude list.

3.) In reading Philippians 4:11-12 (above), Ann discovers, "the secret to living joy in every situation, the full life of eucharisteo." It is in the apostle Paul's statement, "I have learned" (page 47). Take a moment to think of a few things that have brought joy or a feeling of contentment to your life recently. Did you have to learn these things or work at them, or did they just happen, like happy coincidences? How do you understand the relationship between learning or practicing gratitude and experiencing joy?

4.) "This dare to write down one thousand things I love... is a dare to name all the ways that God loves me." (page 59) How does gratitude open the door to ever-increasing awareness of God's love for you? How might you take up the dare to name the ways God loves you?

Did you ever think of it that way before? By naming all the gifts is like naming all the ways God loves YOU?

Think about that the next time you see a beautiful sunrise. When you thank God - be specific in your thankfulness. "Thank you God for giving ME this beautiful sunrise this morning!"

Or what about the next time you hear a beautiful song on the radio. When you thank God - be specific. "Thank you God for giving ME this beautiful song today. The words are so encouraging... it was JUST what I needed!"

I believe NOTHING makes God more pleased with us than when we receive each gift He gives with an offer of Thanksgiving. Pure Eucharisteo. THIS is receiving His grace. THIS is FULL living. Joy-filled living.

And so it is with hammer that we drive the nails... to "rebuild a life - eucharisteo precedes the miracle." And it's not the blanket thanksgiving that changes lives. It is the specificity of each gift. "Life-changing gratitude", Ann says, "does not fasten to a life unless nailed through with one very specific nail at a time."

It's "when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, that I make a place for God to grow within me." If I am serious about changing... for bettering my life... for making a difference... than it has to start with my thankfulness for even the seemingly microscopic.

Ann closes the chapter with a statement... a powerful statement... "... life change comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change." (page 61)

Thank you for joining us on our journey to joy through gratitude!

Below is the video from week three. (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 Three from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo.

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com