One Thousand Gifts

"Eucharist (thanksgiving) is the state of the perfect man. Eucharist is the life of paradise. Eucharist is the only full and real response of man to God's creation, redemption and the gift of heaven." 'He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.' Psalm 50:23 Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning "joy"...so then as long as thanks is possible...joy is always possible. Eucharisteo-thanksgiving-always precedes the miracle."

I'm really loving this book (One Thousand Gifts). It is the culmination of a message the Lord has been speaking, perhaps shouting, to my heart over the last several months, "the fullness of life is found in thanksgiving". 

In response to this message I have started my own list of 1,000 gifts, 1,000 blessings and reasons to give thanks. From the sunset to a cup of tea, to a gentle breeze, I'm purposing to take notice of God's grace in the midst of my day. 

Part two...

In reading further, I discovered the author asking me to enter in with her to the hard practice of offering thanks when our hearts are broken, when we are frustrated and scared, when we don't understand the ways of our Father. Because after all, if God is gracious, is he not gracious in that which brings me, great joy as well as that which wrings my heart in agony? 
So my list is growing faster because I'm not only thankful for sunsets and snuggles but I'm choosing to be thankful for uncertainty, anxiety, disappointment. I'm choosing to rejoice always as the Scriptures tell us to trusting that as Isaiah 64 says, He will meet me there. And isn't that the fullness of joy? His presence.