Giving thanks

It is easy to breeze through my days without noticing the many blessings I am given minute by minute and hour by hour. I don’t mean grand-sweeping obvious blessings like a loving husband, national peace, family, house, etc. I mean the teeny-tiny blessings that I am bombarded with daily: the pretty whistle of the bird outside my window every morning, the cool air of the morning on my face, the way the first bite of a juicy apple always squirts the end of my nose, the hug of  niece around my neck, a long hug, a smile, a “thank you madame” when I buy some fruit, red dust on my feet, small curtsies as Zambians greet one another, hot sun on my face, painted toe nails, the sizzle of an egg when I crack into the pan, the sound the kettle makes when the water is ready for making tea, a smile from an old friend, the smell of pumpkin spice tea steaming from my cup……you get the idea. The seemingly small stuff in life combine to create the larger life-picture. If I don’t live my life in a way that acknowledges the continual small gifts of grace, and give thanks for them, I miss out on living a full life. A life of joy.

My dear friend Sarah and I have been reading though “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. Although we only managed to squeeze in one official book club dinner before I left Halifax (although it was several hours long!), I know this book is shaping us both in significant ways. It is not a fast read - you must ‘chew’ on it as you go. The extremely short and cliché summary of the book would be to say that it is a book about learning to live with an ‘attitude of gratitude’ – or the SJ-cheese version would say, that it is about learning to have a “thankful tankful”! Neither cliché is wrong but they just scratch the surface. Voskamp tells of her journey to a fuller life by looking to scripture to learn what it means to live fully in Christ. She focuses on grace and learning to humbly accept grace with thanksgiving. She focuses on the meaning of eucharisteo (a greek word), which breaks down to mean Charis. Grace. Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. Chara. Joy. She poetically tells of her journey to understand these concepts and of her struggle to really live them.  One of the most important concepts I took from this book is, that thanks always precedes grace – and joy comes from grace. These three concepts are intricately intertwined. A kind of eucharisteo-trinity. From this, Voskamp embarked on a journey to learn to see the extraordinary in her ordinary life. To note the little blessings, the little graces, and to give thanks. She started a list of a thousand gifts – noting the little graces of her days. I have also started a list. As in anything, learning to see blessing in the minute moments of my days and to give thanks for them is a work in progress - but it is a journey worth taking because it leads to a fuller, joy-filled, life! 

Happy thanksgiving weekend, Canada!