God's gifts 89-104 and lessons in gratitude
89. Waking up with "Mighty to Save" in my head.
90. Having my blood drawn from a competent nurse.. almost no pain.
91. Enjoying Abel's ecstatic reaction to his birthday toy, which is not even assembled yet.
92. Adrianna making a "room" out of a box.
93. My father-in-law phoning me to ask if the kids wanted to come "help" him move hay with his tractor.
94. Watching Abel so enjoy the tractor ride that he grew serious with his "work."
95. Overhearing Abel and Steve on the tractor ride: "Papa!" "Are you having fun, Abel?" "Yeah."
96. Having organic groceries delivered to our door.
97. Marveling at the colors of God's creation in fruits and vegetables.
98. Learning how to cook artichokes for the first time.
99. Trying turnips for the first time. Mmm.
100. Enjoying a dinner of fondue with fresh fruits and veggies.
101. Adrianna scratching an "A" into her cheese with a corn chip.
102. Adrianna making her apple and corn chips into a boat.
I am over one-tenth of the way to my goal of listing one thousand of God's gifts to me. With each day, I have tried to jot down a few notes of what I am learning on my journey. Here is a little taste of what God is teaching me.
- Thankfulness is a choice, like love or forgiveness. We do not have to wait for the feelings to come in order to be thankful. If we choose to be thankful, however, many times the emotions follow.
- Perspective. As I was struggling to be thankful for getting locked out of my house and needing to clean up a garage covered in filth, I connected through the author's blog (http://www.aholyexperience.com/) to others striving to list their one thousand blessings. And I got perspective. There are women who are thanking God while overcoming malignant cancer or while witnessing a six-year-old daughter struggle to survive.
- Childlike thanks. Describing my thankful journey to Adrianna resulted in her overflow of thanks. To her, it was so natural. Gratitude was already her first response, and my bringing it up allowed it to be heard. She already savors each moment, lives in the present. As a child, was it my natural response to enjoy and savor every moment without worrying about or waiting for the next? When did it stop being so? What can I do to help my children maintain and improve their abilities to life fully right where they are?
- I am a work in progress. There are more moments that I should have included in my list of gratitude, but my heart was not feeling grateful when they occurred. Again, it is a lesson in choosing thanks, and overcoming a poor attitude, to see the gifts in the moments.
- Hard thanks. The author of One Thousand Gifts talks about "hard thanks" -- thanking God when it is so painful. Jesus gave thanks to His Father on the night of the Last Supper. He gave thanks for the sacrifice... His body, His blood poured out for us.
I struggle to get my heart around this lesson. My head understands. My heart struggles to give thanks for the difficult. I know I struggled through last spring to give thanks for our non-passing court dates in Ethiopia. I finally came to the place of gratitude. Now I struggle to be able to maintain that heart.
- Ann Voskamp (the author) writes her one thousand gifts as nouns. She lists things like the curl of freshly grated cheese or the wonders of color in an iridescent bubble -- beautiful gifts from God. So far, most of my listed gifts are moments. I am choosing mostly moments because I struggle to be fully present with my family. I have been weighed down with the responsibilities of motherhood and household management. The cooking, the cleaning, the laundry... they have so consumed my moments that I struggled to fully engage with my children. Paying attention to the grace moments God gives me with them has changed my focus. I pray that it continues to. I don't want to wish away their childhood... the time is too short, too precious.
90. Having my blood drawn from a competent nurse.. almost no pain.
91. Enjoying Abel's ecstatic reaction to his birthday toy, which is not even assembled yet.
92. Adrianna making a "room" out of a box.
94. Watching Abel so enjoy the tractor ride that he grew serious with his "work."
95. Overhearing Abel and Steve on the tractor ride: "Papa!" "Are you having fun, Abel?" "Yeah."
96. Having organic groceries delivered to our door.
97. Marveling at the colors of God's creation in fruits and vegetables.
98. Learning how to cook artichokes for the first time.
99. Trying turnips for the first time. Mmm.
100. Enjoying a dinner of fondue with fresh fruits and veggies.
101. Adrianna scratching an "A" into her cheese with a corn chip.
103. Adrianna opening the refrigerator and saying, "Look at all those beautiful foods that I love," referring to the organic produce.
104. Adrianna adding blueberries as the first item on her "Love List."
I am over one-tenth of the way to my goal of listing one thousand of God's gifts to me. With each day, I have tried to jot down a few notes of what I am learning on my journey. Here is a little taste of what God is teaching me.
- Thankfulness is a choice, like love or forgiveness. We do not have to wait for the feelings to come in order to be thankful. If we choose to be thankful, however, many times the emotions follow.
- Perspective. As I was struggling to be thankful for getting locked out of my house and needing to clean up a garage covered in filth, I connected through the author's blog (http://www.aholyexperience.com/) to others striving to list their one thousand blessings. And I got perspective. There are women who are thanking God while overcoming malignant cancer or while witnessing a six-year-old daughter struggle to survive.
- Childlike thanks. Describing my thankful journey to Adrianna resulted in her overflow of thanks. To her, it was so natural. Gratitude was already her first response, and my bringing it up allowed it to be heard. She already savors each moment, lives in the present. As a child, was it my natural response to enjoy and savor every moment without worrying about or waiting for the next? When did it stop being so? What can I do to help my children maintain and improve their abilities to life fully right where they are?
- I am a work in progress. There are more moments that I should have included in my list of gratitude, but my heart was not feeling grateful when they occurred. Again, it is a lesson in choosing thanks, and overcoming a poor attitude, to see the gifts in the moments.
- Hard thanks. The author of One Thousand Gifts talks about "hard thanks" -- thanking God when it is so painful. Jesus gave thanks to His Father on the night of the Last Supper. He gave thanks for the sacrifice... His body, His blood poured out for us.
I struggle to get my heart around this lesson. My head understands. My heart struggles to give thanks for the difficult. I know I struggled through last spring to give thanks for our non-passing court dates in Ethiopia. I finally came to the place of gratitude. Now I struggle to be able to maintain that heart.
- Ann Voskamp (the author) writes her one thousand gifts as nouns. She lists things like the curl of freshly grated cheese or the wonders of color in an iridescent bubble -- beautiful gifts from God. So far, most of my listed gifts are moments. I am choosing mostly moments because I struggle to be fully present with my family. I have been weighed down with the responsibilities of motherhood and household management. The cooking, the cleaning, the laundry... they have so consumed my moments that I struggled to fully engage with my children. Paying attention to the grace moments God gives me with them has changed my focus. I pray that it continues to. I don't want to wish away their childhood... the time is too short, too precious.
Comments
I so resonate with your struggle to let go of the "to-do's" and dwell in the present. This is a challenging but rewarding thing when done.
Keep up the great work with your recording!