All's Grace

Two weeks ago, someone gave me the book, "One Thousand Gifts," by Ann Voskamp.
I dove into it.
Not realizing the "dare" it would contain that's already changing my life.

She talks about "thanks."
Not a favorite word.  I have to admit.  A word I've shunned lately.

Why be thankful when there seems to be nothing to be thankful for?
Why are we told to give thanks when the thing we're to be grateful for is the last thing on our list we want?

She argues that a list of the unwanted is the wrong list.
And can actually be transformed to a far different kind.

A list of gifts.

To live fully right where we are, a bitter heart must be exchanged for a thankful heart.

So she makes a suggestion.

List 1,000 things you're thankful for.

John 3:27 is hung at her kitchen window:  "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven."

We need open hands to receive His gifts.

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Two nights ago, Ann Voskamp was the keynote speaker at the "She Speaks Conference."

She asked a probing question and made a statement I've not been able to shake off:
"Who can be bitter when giving thanks?"
"Fear is the notion that God's love ends, that it's going to run out, and He is finite.  But if His goodness ended, God would cease to exist."

So I've started my list of "1,000 Gifts."

For those of you who I met at "She Speaks," I was thinking of you when jotting these down:

#7 ~ Other believers in Christ in all walks of life
#8 ~ The love of Christ between us even when we hardly know anything else about each other
#9 ~ A smile from someone else
#10 ~ The chance to smile back
#11 ~ The medicine of laughter
#12 ~ People to laugh with

Have you started your list?

As Ann Voskamp wrote in my book . . . "All's Grace."  

(Photo by Kirsten Wilson. www.kirstenjoywilson.com)