Can You Count to a Thousand?

For over a year now I have counted...counted the gifts that He has given me.  It wasn't my idea, rather the idea of Ann Voskamp, the writer for A Holy Experience. So when her book came out for the Kindle, and my boys  received Kindles as Christmas gifts, I saw my opportunity.  Stealing a Kindle and a little time, I downloaded One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are and began to read.

Ann writes stories in the form of poetry.  Her words befuddle me and amaze me at the same time. Her story is of her pain (which I will let her tell you) and of her climb out of it by counting to a thousand.  Counting a thousand gifts from God.  God's graces, she calls them. Her book was timely for me as I embark on a year of grace...the word I have chosen to focus on for 2011. This book is filled with grace...the grace that gives birth to joy through the act of thanksgiving. The graces we count to see the glory of God. The grace that we can become for others. She talks of joy, trust, miracles, humility, and of letting go.

After reading, I realized that my list of gifts could be more....more in the list, more in the detail, more gratitude to give than I have given before.  So I will continue to count.  Because it is in the counting of God's gifts that we free ourselves from ourselves and become full of grace...become what we were meant to be.

I encourage you to read her book.  You will never view thanksgiving in the same way again...

It is out for the Kindle now and can be bought in old fashion book form towards the end of January.