Eucharisteo

1: Morning sunshine that splashes across my desk.

2: Cold, clean water

3: Packing lunches for Tyler- being able to take care of the one who takes care of me.

19: Really good friends that I didn’t expect.

20: Getting letters in the mail, and not just bills.

21: The smooth slice of peeling potatoes.

45: My warm husband nuzzled beside me in our cold, little bed.

46: Old book smell

47: Uncontrollable belly-laughter on the phone with my mom.

50: Quiet

I’ve been reading this book, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. I’m only to page 73, but it has already taught me so much. Ann was challenged to list 1,000 things she was thankful for, and in the process she learned how thanksgiving, eucharisteo in the Greek,  is so essential to our joy (the derivative for joy, chara, is even found in the word eucharisteo), how we may be saved without it, but we’ll never experience abundant life unless we learn to embrace it. Writing down all the little blessings she would normally have ignored was a way to profess her thankfulness and name her joy, helping her really learn the lifestyle of thankfulness. Even in the bleak times, joy can be found so long as you can humble yourself and be thankful, for we are children of the King, and we are always blessed.

I want to learn this too, and so I decided to start my own list. I’m on day two of my “Gift List,” and I just thought I’d share a few of them with you. Because I am thankful for you too, my friends. You are most certainly on my list. I’m finding that every time I add something to the list, it makes me a little more heedful of what’s around me.

#53: A baby that smiles at me over her mother’s shoulder. (Lord, thank you for new life, fresh and curious. Thank you that I am new too.) #54: Rosemary’s wrinkled, beautiful hands. (Father, thank you for my unexpected friend, and thank you for her hard-earned wisdom.) #55: A text from Tyler, simply reading “I love you.”. (I don’t deserve such a loving man, Lord. Thank you for the grace that gave me my marriage. I am so humbled. I am so grateful.)

I want to learn this practice now, while I’m in a bountiful season, so that when the storms come again I may weather them a little better than before.

What about you- what little gifts are you thankful for? What is God instilling in your heart right now? I’m so excited to share this with you! I challenge you to try it. Start with 100 gifts, one hundred things your thankful for, and see if it doesn’t till your soil too.

Until next time,

Amanda

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