1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp

It has been a while since my last post. Surely, that can't mean I have nothing going on in my life, right? Well, it certainly hasn't been boring. Each day brings something new: and in the more recent past, that something new hasn't typically been special or nice. I would even venture to say that if someone were to look in from the outside they would wonder what we did wrong to deserve this life. Real estate controversy, neighborhood drama, physical ailments, unemployment... the list goes on. Maybe we did do something wrong? Fortunately, I am trusting God to work in my heart so that I learn from this and we can move on!

But, really, what I was going to write about -- what has re-inspired me to come back to this space on the world wide web - is a book. If you know me at all, I am NOT a big reader. I like pictures, movies, magazines, and baking. NOT reading. And if I do start a book, I rarely finish it. But, there is a new book that everyone was a buzz about. So, when this sister related this book to being like a breath of fresh air... or was it a glass of cool water? -regardless of the analogy, it caught my attention. I could use a glass of cool water. Ya think?

So, what is all the hub-bub about anyways? What's so great about this book?

The minute I started reading it, it caught my attention - which is, by the way, the only reason I continue to read a book - the first 5 minutes.

"Our fall was, and has always been, and always will be, that we aren't satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other."

Huh.

Well, if that isn't the epitome of human nature, right? This echoed the things the Lord had already begun etching into my heart: satisfaction. But, the book doesn't end there. That was just the beginning. She goes on to communicate her own personal lesson in giving thanks. In Eucharisteo. Which translates, "he gave thanks". But, it also has the root words of joy and grace.

"The only real fall of man is his noneucharistic life in a noneucharistic world... humanity's discontentment with all that God freely gives..." Over and over again she states how eucharisteo is shown time after time in the Bible as being key to our salvation experience. I quickly grab a 3x5 and scribble a quote down and sit it in front of the sink so I can see it every day: "I would never experience the fullness of my salvation until I expressed the fullness of my thanks every day, and eucharisteo is elemental to living the saved life."

Wow. I step back and read it again. It's like a glass of cool water. Ann quotes another author in her book who writes, "You can read many books about the fact that water will quench your thirst, but until you put the books down and bring the water to your parched lips, you will never experience what you are reading about." In that same way, I knew. The minute I read those words about eucharisteo being elemental to my saved life... I knew. I needed some of that. I needed that drink of water.

It's a lifestyle. Daily. Making a list in your head opens an awareness in your heart of the Lord's goodness. When you focus on HIS bigness, it humbles you to the point of gratefulness and true joy for what He has done. So, I am reading the book slowly. After each chapter I mull over it. I take in the meaning and try to practice it in my life and already I see a change. Already I see a miracle happening right in front of me.

It's my recommendation: read the book.