One Thousand Gifts

Image from www.aholyexperience.com

Wowzers, this book is messin’ with me somethin’ fierce.

And in all the right ways.

I didn’t plan to write about Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts ’til I was finished reading it, but I’ve decided I just can’t wait. I have to brag on this masterpiece pronto.

One Thousand Gifts, A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are is like no other book I’ve read. Through her life experiences and heart, Ann doesn’t tell us how to live fully, she shows us. This book is not a step-by-step self-help book. Oh, no. Rather it is an answer to prayer, a way to see and live gratitude, grace and joy no matter the circumstances. It’s a book that is best savored and enjoyed with its exquisite, unforgettable words that roll around in your head long after you’ve put the book down. It’s a book that calls for a new highlighter for marking nugget after nugget of goodness delivered in Ann’s signature writing style.

How does one live fully? Through eucharisteo, one large word that encompasses thanksgiving, grace and joy.

And lest you think Ann writes with sunshiney-Pollyanna-don’t-worry-be-happy words, think again. From her very young years, tragedy and tribulation plagued her and could have forever stolen any joy or gratitude from her. Learning eucharisteo has been hard fought in the trenches. But the battle scars she holds testify to the ugly-beautiful transformations she finds.

How does one live fully? Ann writes,

“But if we don’t intentionally commit to the hard practice of seeing, don’t we die in barren wilderness? Anger, frustration, emptiness?”

So what do we see? We see all the ways He loves us. We look for and count our blessings and record our thanksgiving. We take the dare to count up to 1000 gifts and maybe even more? But why?

As Ann describes in a One Thousand Gifts interview,

Because “…giving thanks and being attentive to a beauty hunt slows time down.”

Ann also writes,

“Time is life. And if I want the fullest life, I need to find fullest time.”

So I take a cue from Ann and start my own beauty hunt. Let me tell ya…it’s addictive. And a blast! God literally showers blessings on us, and I’m ashamed at how often I’ve grumbled and ignored and said, “No thanks!” to them. I’ve missed so much because I was looking through squinty, narrow eyes.

I’m learning how ingratitude starves the heart but also how He turns the ugly into beautiful.

So to keep feeding my soul, I am recording my gifts. And on this Ash Wednesday, I am inviting my young’uns to join in the meal. While owning this journal would be lovely, I have 3 spiral binders with their names on it. Maybe we can use this season of Lent to become more practiced at giving up ingratitude and discontent?

As we remember the slow walk towards Calvary, I am seeing Jesus’ death and resurrection as the ultimate ugly-beautiful transformation.

Through Ann’s book, I’m finding transformation in my own life, too.

If you would like more insights into this book straight from the horse’s mouth, check out the (In)Courage Bloom Book Club. There you can watch conversations with Ann as well as read how this book has moved others to find and embrace the eucharisteo in their own lives.

His work-in-progress,

Kristen