One Thousand Gifts

In January, my friend Johanna gave me the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I kept seeing it pop up as a recommendation on Amazon and best seller lists so it was on my list of books to read. However, based on the whimsical picture of a bird's nest with beautiful blue eggs gracing the cover, I mistakenly thought it was going to be a nice, easy novel that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Wrong. This was a pretty deep book that deals with things like, "why does a loving God let bad things happen?". After reading it, I immediately wanted to try and summarize in a logical way, what she said in such a beautiful, artistic way. In other words, I wanted to strip the book of all it's beauty in order to make it sink in for me.

She gets right in to it by chapter 2 where she states her major thesis - Joy is the goal of the fullest life and Thanksgiving is the key to joy. Her reasoning is that failure to be Thankful (which I call pride) is what caused the fall and is what hinders our full salvation. Additionally, Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever He gives.

In chapter 3 she introduces the reason for the name of the book...the challenge she gave herself to keep a journal of naming 1,000 things she is thankful for. She described the importance the Bible places on naming something which all started when God charged Adam with naming all the animals. I loved this quote on pg 52:
"Now, in the Bible a name...reveals the very essence of a thing, or rather its essence as God's gift...To name a thing 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."
I know this wasn't her point, but I thought of how perfectly this describes the comfort that comes from naming a child who never had the chance of life outside the womb. To name something is to become emotionally attached to it. I also thought of how my mom was born 3 months early in Egypt with little chance of survival. Her parents carefully nursed her day and night at home, but it wasn't until she was 3 months old and likely to survive that they got her a birth certificate and gave her an official name.

Why did she choose 1,000 gifts to be thankful for? Because, "practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation". And after she wrote her 1,000th gift, she made this conclusion, "daily discipline is the door to full freedom, and the discipline to count to 1,000 gave way to the freedom of wonder".

Chapter 4 is where she moves beyond the beautiful things of life that are easy to be thankful for and begins to question what we should do with the ugly. She quotes Job 2:10, ...Should I accept good from you, and not trouble? and concludes that you can't separate the "grace moments (good)" from the "curse moments (bad)" because God transfigures all the world. "Darkness transfigures into light, bad transfigures into good, grief transfigures into grace, empty transfigures into full. God wastes nothing and 'makes everything work out according to his plan' (Ephesians 1:11)".

The next couple of chapters she talks about the ups and downs of this new way of living. Slowly, she has learned how "not be[ing] so reactionary while inserting verbal gratitude into stressful situations is almost like being healed of mental blindness". There are rough times, when "the Lord has to break us down at the strongest part of our self-life before He can have His own way of blessing with us". And she concludes that the secret to joy is to keep seeking God where we doubt He is. This reminded me of Hebrews 11:6, "for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him".

Next, she winds herself into the discovery that Thankfulness in "curse moments" requires trust and therefore we can't be filled with true joy until we have learned how to trust God. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him" (Romans 15:13) I loved this quote, "If authentic, saving belief is the act of trusting, then to choose stress is an act of disbelief...atheism". She also makes the observation that Thanks is what builds trust. So it's a wonderful cycle of trust generating Thanksgiving which generates more trust.

She gets a little strange in the last chapter entitled "The Joy of Intimacy", but she has an epiphany that I found interesting while visiting an old church in Paris. The ancient steps to God-consummation were purgation, illumination and union. At the time I read this, I was doing a bible study by Beth Moore called Living Beyond Yourself where she describes our need for the daily process of pouring out, pouring in and pouring forth. I think they are saying the same thing and it is this, we must constantly be repeating the cycle of emptying our hearts of the self-will and pride that consume us, allowing the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with grace and joy and finally, pouring forth that grace and joy upon others. As a side note, that is why I enjoy the order of worship of more "reformed" churches. They embrace these steps throughout the worship service.

I have a terrible memory and unless I can distill this further into one sentence, the odds of remembering it are pretty low. So here goes. Humility -> Grace -> Trust -> Thanksgiving -> Joy That can't be so hard, right?

I think her practical application of journaling what you are thankful for is a very good one...one I have yet to start.