OK... So I am still reading One Thousand Gifts and I think I am starting to see how this woman changed on her journey. In the book she talks about how the Bible tells us to give thanks. And how Paul says twice that it is a "practice we must learn"... this idea of giving thanks, because giving thanks brings joy. She begins to write a list of all things she is thankful for, on a daily basis, no matter how big or small, she writes them down. She starts to realize that just naming the gifts is her acknowledging them and how they bring her joy.
"Now, in the Bible a name... reveals the very essence of a thing, or rather the essence as God's gift... To name a things is to manifest the meaning and value God gave it, to know it as coming from God and to know its place and function within the cosmos created by God. To name a thing, in other words is to bless God for it and in it."
"This naming really does call now a gift, a gift of God! When I name it (the gift), the naming of it manifests its meaning: to know it comes from God."
Basically, she is saying that by giving thanks for specific things, just naming them, just speaking them out, or writing them down, is giving them a name and therefore realizing that that one thing, that one gift, is from God.
She goes on to talk about how this action of giving thanks must be practiced. She quotes C.S Lewis who said, "If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad".
This is why MANY of us have not learned to give thanks (or name the gifts) in our lives. Because although it is preached and taught, we do not practice it. I don't know about you, but I still come home after sermons on thanks and gripe. It is time to start training, practicing this idea of thanks. This idea of naming the gifts in my life, in order to know it comes from God. This might be the hardest "training" of my life, but as the author says, "It just might save my life".
Little or big things - it's time to start practicing naming them and giving thanks.
My Gifts:
1. A house
2. My nephew's smiles
3. My nieces' hugs
4. Cool breeze in the evening
5. Moonlight
6. Cookies baking in the oven
7. Baby birds chirping
8. Friends who call to say HI
9. Songs that speak to my heart
10. A baby's laughter
I am thankful for:
ReplyDelete1. my husbands willing to help hands
2. for the peaceful moments with Jesus
3. for sharing of laughter and good times with friends
4. for beautiful colored birds that sing to me in the morning
5. for the moment of restful sleep
6.for not only the smell of bacon and coffee in the morning but the taste
7. for closeness I feel to God in Morning worship
8. for the white noise of cars flying by that lull me to slumber
9. for the sunshine that warms my face
10. for the serenity of the flowing but tranquil lake by my side.