Live My 'Now' Life With Thanksgiving

“I pick up a pen and write of the God-gifts …all these things I had blithely and blindly brushed past before.”  Ann Voskamp

I recently discovered a book titled One Thousand Gifts. I decided to look into it after one of my daily devotional writers mentioned the power that this author’s words had in her life.  With most books I read, as I near the final chapters I begin to plan for what my next book will be.  However this time, my only plan was to begin reading it again, this time with a highlighter, sticky notes and pen in hand. On the jacket of the book, above its title, it reads: 'A dare to live fully right where you are'.

In December of 2011, I wrote a blog about the many blessings I have in my life and how I didn't spend enough time giving thanks for them, or even recognizing them.  So as a result,  I created this following small step: At least four times a week, make note of at least 4 blessings I am thankful for.  The good news is I have continued to do that, in fact each morning when I write it my journal, I begin it with at least one blessing.  After recently attending a good friend’s wedding, I adopted a blessing that was given as a toast by the father of the bride.  He raised his glass and said, “Here’s to faith, family, and friends”.  Those words ‘faith, family and friends’ seemed the perfect combination to be thankful for at the beginning of each day.  But, as I look back over many months of blessings I have penned, I realize that I often generalize my blessings, as though throwing a tarp over them and naming them.  I can then check them off my list of small steps.  To often my blessings seem robotic and even trite. ‘Thank you, God, for blessing me with my children, my husband, my grandchildren etc".....done...now I can move on.

As I read through the poetic pages of Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts, I think about how rarely I actually describe a specific gift or blessing. Whether it’s reciting common table prayers, like ‘let these gifts to us be blessed,’ or ‘bless these gifts we are about to receive.’  Pretty general,huh? Even my bedtime chat with the Lord sounds too much like the all encompassing familiar child’s pray…. ‘thank you for the birds that sing, thank you God for everything.’ 

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with these prayers...but as I read  Voskamps words,  I was touched by the vivid images being poured onto the pages.  Her passages stirred me to step back and reflect about being thankful: She writes, “I discover that slapping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving over everything in my life leaves me deeply thankful for very few things in my life.”

 I wonder…is that true for me as well?

One of my favorite regular posts on Face Book comes from my sister-in-law.  Almost every day she posts something that she is thankful for.  Whether it’s thanks for the leftover lemon pie, the special day spent with her grandson, the trip to the sea glass festival, or the timer on her coffee pot; it always makes me smile.  I especially enjoy it when she finds blessings where most of us would complain.  Here's one of her posts, “I am thankful my next door neighbor has sensor lights on her back patio to chase off bad guys, especially thankful they blinked on and off ALL night, shining into our bathroom window....goodbye bad guys!! Or skunks or raccoons???" ......Or this one: “I am thankful for the fog that made the spider webs wet and visible so I can see them as to not have a facewrapwebbstickythingyshakebyheadwhileyellingaaahhh taking my morning snail/ caterpiller eating my flowers hunt....”

Do you see what I mean about making me smile?

In the book The Color Purple Alice Walker writes, “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”

I won't speak to the ‘pissing of God off’ part, but I do think that in order to live my ‘now’ life more fully, it requires that I begin to look closely for that color purple in the field somewhere.  Like Ann Voskamp, I too want to "pick up my pen and write of the God-gifts …all these things I had blithely and blindly brushed past before."

 I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Post them on my blog or email me at: smallsteps4bigresults@yahoo.com