A Book and A Hope …
“How do I fully live when life is full of hurt?”
Are you down today? Perhaps grief and loss have derailed you and you are finding it hard to get back to a standing position, let alone getting any forward motion. Maybe some other disappointment has temporarily sucked the air out of you and you are trying to find some way to come back.
I can say with certainty “I have been there.” I am still right there some days. Having lost my soul mate and life partner 16 months ago, I still find I must make my way through my days often in dark places. This book has helped me more than any other, outside of scripture, to see the way to a better place, and yes, to find joy!
The book is the New York Times Bestseller: One Thousand Gifts by Anne Voskamp (click here to view her website). Anne had dealt with unresolved grief and pain since childhood. She vowed to try to come to healing and understanding, to find what was missing. What was missing was joy.
In simple terms, she discovered “eucharisteo“. What, pray tell is THAT?!? It is simply gratitude or giving thanks. The term came originally from the “Last Supper” when the Lord gave thanks, then blessed and served his disciples, knowing within hours what He was facing.
Over weeks and months, Ann committed, after a challenge from a friend, to find 1,000 gifts to be thankful for. Like what, you ask? …a butterfly that lights on the kitchen window sill, …the shimmering rainbow in a droplet of water on a washed glass in the drain board, …a son’s hand that still existed after a horrific accident and months of therapy.
The first words that grabbed my heart and made me pay attention were these: “Gratitude precedes the miracle.”
GRATITUDE PRECEDES THE MIRACLE … let that sink in.
Could it be so basic? Could it be that simply noticing the beautiful gifts around me could bring actual joy instead of this lingering sadness? Was I willing to challenge myself? I was inspired. What, really, did I have to lose, except this frozen ball of ice around me, which I hated, anyway?
I started. Walking across the parking lot at work I saw a red-tailed hawk swoop down in front of me, close to the roof. He was magnificent! He left, then soared back close to let me see his beauty before he climbed above the slope and dive-bombed to his prey somewhere above me. #1: Red Tailed Hawk show, just for me.
Email from a friend: “My long-term soul mate has cancer. I have decided to marry him and really walk this walk with him. Seeing your strength and courage with Lou, has given me the belief I too can do this. “ #2: Thank you God for Lou’s cancer and that my open sharing gave courage to my friend.
A new friend’s son is walking a dangerous path, self-destructive, heart-breaking, with some new pain every day. Gratitude precedes the miracle, I tell her, as we pray. She focuses on that one thing for two weeks. Good things begin to happen, tiny positive changes.
A good friend’s daughter has breast cancer. We visit and talk about gratitude. She shares how she finds 5 things to be thankful for every day. She thinks she must be the happiest person with cancer ever. Could it be a result of her gratitude?
At lunch with my boss and friend, he said carefully and with great purpose at the finish, “You are finally back! I have watched your sad journey and have waited for the day when I could say this: The spark of life is back in your eyes and in your voice and in your outlook.” #76: Someone has seen life in my eyes, hope in my heart.
Is it possibly true? Can simple gratitude change a life of sorrow back to a life of light and hope and sometimes even joy? Part of mine was needing to see some good purpose, even in the pain.
I am well on my way to my own 1,000 gifts. Actually, I don’t intend to stop there. If the first 1,000 can help this much, why would I ever stop?
|| what do you think?
Can you relate?
Can an attitude actually be the start of a miracle?
Please share your thoughts.
31 Comments
Anne,
As Fitz might say, “let’s be proactively grateful.” There is oh so munch to be grateful for and just too many opportunities to make that choice. Yes,i like “Proactively Grateful.” Could be the title to a book…
Love,
Chris
Chris
That is what the 1,000 gifts entails, being proactively grateful. Gonna write it? I love being happy, more than sad. While I still have to remind myself to dwell on all the gifts around me, when I do, it is so rewarding.
Love
Anne
Anne,
I find gratitude with your blog. Thank you! What a great concept and really a reminder to be thankful and find the good in people and situations. An attitude of gratitude is contagious. I admire you for your outlook and am proud of you for the way you have approached your life journey.
Love,
Fitz
Fitz,
Glad I can give you reasons for gratitude! Hopefully, what I do every day always gives you more gratitude, not less! Haha. We become what we focus on. I am hoping to focus more and more on the blessings and thereby stay in a positive, happier place.
Love
Anne
Anne,
Such a simple concept yet so hard to set my intention to. I love this freeing habit or at least the idea of it. I think there are times when I can get too comfortable with the sadness and that too is a choice. I will begin turning my intention to thankfulness more and see what happens. Thank you for this sweet remind and book to help move into the miracle.
Jeff
Hi Jeff
Easy to do, becoming comfortable with sadness.
Pure joy is elusive, but I think tied to gratitude.
You know how at work we try to catch others doing good? Well, I guess this journey is kind of like catching God doing good, all around you, all the time.
Have fun with your experiment. Maybe even write some things down on scraps of nearby paper or in your phone. Maybe when you most need it, you will see them again and smile at the remembrance.
Anne
Annie,
I have expressed to you on several occasions how GRATEFUL I am for YOU!! I am going to the bookstore this weekend to pick up this book. Thank you for making it real for all of us. I talk about finding JOY with my husband and my kids all the time, not in each other, but in the Lord and all that He gives us every day. People can disappoint us, so you have to go beyond relationships and look for the evidence of blessings.
Thank you again for your encouragement.
I love you
kari
Kari,
Glad I am on your list of gratitudes! As you are on mine.
I learned to watch for the blessings from God monetarily and otherwise most in my teen years, living with my sister and her husband. He was a minister who started churches from nothing and when they were self-sustaining, would turn them over to another. Then on we would go to where he felt God wanted him to start the next one. Believe me, we needed miracles, oftentimes just for the basic necessities of life! My sister was tops for pointing out God’s hand in whatever provision came our way, or that amazing sale at the market, or some drawing she entered… She won stuff more than anyone I knew during that time. She always showed great gratitude. I learned to do the same.
Over time, even deeply instilled lessons can be forgotten if not practiced. Grief has a way of replacing whatever joy one might have had. Gratitude produces crops of joy. I am proving it.
Love,
Annie
Hi Anne,
Oh how I love this idea of finding gratitude in our every day lives! We have so much to be thankful for and it is so easy for us to overlook these things. I do believe that simple gratitude has a huge impact on changing our world view, on helping us see the joys in life, and helping us find moments of great joy in our own lives.
I am inspired by you and your journey to find 1000 gifts and not to stop there. You are so right, why stop at 1000! Your blog is one of my gifts today! And for that I am very grateful!
Becky
Becky,
How I love to inspire others. We each touch the other’s life in some way…inspiration is the best. You have inspired me to keep watching for those hummingbirds in odd places. I have had a couple more since our last discussion.
I am glad I could be your gift, on this 1 year anniversary of your brother’s home going.
Hugs,
Anne