Thanksgiving

Back in  2013 I read a book entitled "1000 Gifts" by Ann Voskamp.  Actually, I read it once and then again several times.  It was that kind of book.  And while I have not done a re-read recently, I still continue with the "Gratitude Journal" which was an idea that held the book together as well as one which resonated enough with me to give it a try myself.  I know people who journal and that it can be an important spiritual discipline, but my movement in that direction has always been sporadic. 

 

Such is really how I would have to describe the writing I do in my "Gratitude Journal."  Listing things for which we are thankful is what Voskamp encouraged her readers to do.  She listed a thousand in a year.  I have been at it now for over five years and am a long way from that number.  But, still it has brought benefit to my spiritual life.  It has made me more conscious of the many things which are blessings in my life.  One of the things she wrote which I found noteworthy is, "Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever God gives." 

 

Honesty requires confessing that my life is not yet at that place.  Perhaps, I am moving closer, but I still come to those moments of ranting and raving and hollering out, "Why me?  Why don't You do things differently, Lord?"  Ephesians 5:20 calls us to "give thanks for everything."  Maybe one day I will get to that place where that kind of thanksgiving flows seamlessly out of my spirit, but most days it seems there are still miles to go.  In the meantime I continue writing down those things which bring forth gratitude.  Sometimes now I can even see some things under the dark clouds.  Nothing to brag about.  But, at least I have been given an understanding that there is in everything something for which to be thankful.  I pray one day the head knowledge will become my heart's response.