1,000 Gifts: A Challenge

This past Sunday at church, Dawn Waltman spoke, and boy oh boy, was it a good sermon! The sermon itself was based off a book called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

Ann Voskamp dares us to live fully right where we are, no matter what walk of life, by writing down the things we are thankful for, big or small. Can we, in one year, be thankful for 1,000 DIFFERNT things?

One thousand may seem like a pretty big number, and at first I was unsure if I could possibly find that many things to be thankful for. Such a depressing thought, because, as Dawn continued to speak, she reminded all of her audience that once you find one thing to be thankful for...you will find another, than another, than another! She read some of her list, and two items stood out to me: she was thankful for the "diamonds" that appeared upon the snow as the sun shown on it, and the icicles that were bent one way from the wind. These are not things we normally notice, we don't take the time to pay attention to how God reveals Himself to us. Yet, Dawn  realized how thankful she was for these things because they reminded her that God was indeed there, in the small town of Intercourse, PA.

Here's my notebook I use for devotionals. Already I've got a page marked "1,000 Gifts" and I'm taking up the challenge to find at least 1,000 things to be thankful for this coming year.

Dawn also mentioned something else in her sermon. We humans are programmed to worry and stress, unfortunately. Stress and worrying gets in the way of living in the moment, it speeds up time and we continue to become more stressed and more worried. Ann Voskamp's challenge to find things to be thankful for every day allows time to slow down. We have to pay attention to what is around us, we have to take the time to see what we pass by every day, and thank God for it. The more things we write down on the list, the more we realize God is there, the more we realize we can trust Him to provide in other areas of our life...the more we can let go of stress and worry because we have a God who formed what is around us, and He will take care of us. Personally, I stress too much. About everything. This coming year I pray keeping a list will help me to let go of my stress and worry and simply trust.

I challenge you to do the same.