Gifts- To One Thousand and Beyond

When you are younger, it seems like you wait "forever" for your birthday to come around. You expectantly wait for the gift you specifically asked for or the special outing you will be going on marking your special day. 

God is good. 

He doesn't wait till it's our birthday to give us gifts, big ones or little ones. Another word for gifts could be blessings and God showers us with them daily. But do we remember that on those days that we get nothing done, or when a catastrophe happens? It can be hard to find reasons to thank God when we don't see the innumerable ways He has blessed us. It can be difficult when we are surrounded by things weighing us down or when things look hopeless.

Recently, I read a book called "One Thousand Gifts" which I have mentioned in a previous post. This book is all about finding joy in the midst of difficulty or even the mundane. But the key word is Joy. One very practical exercise Ann Voskamp suggests is to write down blessings in your life.

Ex. 

88. leftovers for lunch
333.laughter over silly things
261. breeze and shade on a warm day

634. warm sunshine on the carpet
1078. generous gifts from friends
1082. talks with Daddy
these are some things that I have written down in my blessings journal.

Often, in the business of life I sometimes forget to thank friends who went out of their way to simply check on me or thanking a teacher for taking the time to explain what they meant further. More often, I forget to simply thank God who has not only blessed me with these gifts but who has also saved me and loves me.

The least I can do is thank Him.

So I try to actively look for things to be thankful for and write them down in my journal or a piece of paper. The more I do it and look for things to be thankful for the easier it gets but the pressure should not be on being consistent. It is so rewarding to look back and see all the ways God has graciously been so good to me.

The nice thing is, it's quick and simple.

I would like to occasionally share a couple things from my expanding list on this blog and I would challenge you to do the same in your own way, private or public.

This brilliang idea came from this book: 1000Gifts-Ann Voskamp