Abundant Gifts, by M

Hey everyone!

Sorry that I have been totally MIA lately. To say that things have been busy is a total understatement. I honestly do not remember a time when my life has been quite as crazy as it has been here in the last two weeks! Luckily, I have only one more 13-hour workday standing between me and two glorious weeks of vacation in beautiful Italy. CANNOT WAIT!!!!

On that note, here's advance warning that you may not hear from me and W for a while... we're planning on being relatively "unplugged" and just enjoying so much time being together and with the family. FYI!

I honestly don't have too much to say (and certainly nothing all that profound) because I feel certifiably brain dead at the moment. With that said, I decided I will share a brief thought/question I had earlier this week and perhaps invite you to weigh in on it with me.

Right now I'm reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts. It's a New York Times Bestseller and it received a lot of attention when it first came out (in late 2011, I believe?)... mostly for the stream-of-consciousness prose that she writes in. I'll admit, it takes a bit of getting used to. Anyway, the whole deal with the book (spoiler alert! haha) is that it's her experience of trying to live a life of "eucharisteo" or thanksgiving; she accomplishes this by writing a list of 1,000 gifts. Of course, she learns many good lessons along the way, and invites all of her readers to try the same gift-identifying exercise and see what happens in their heart and faith journey as they do it. For what's it's worth, I'm enjoying the book (even if it is a departure from the things I typically read).

So I'm reading this book and having crazy long day after crazy long day and I've been honestly trying to have a moderately better spirit of thanksgiving. I say moderately because I haven't actually written any gifts down... and I'm pretty sure the whole point is to actually do it (haha)... to make the writing of the gifts a discpline. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work quite the same way if you don't. Regardless, this idea of having a spirit of thanksgiving has been floating around in my mind at least, and that's a start, right?

Now, after recognizing about 4 gifts, a pattern became very clear that started to intrigue me. I noticed that all of the gifts that flowed easily into my brain were all "negative gifts," if you will. Meaning, all of my gifts sounded like this "I am so thankful that it is not raining today." "Man, it is so great that I don't have to ride the bus to work!" Or, my personal favorite: "God, I am just thrilled that I don't have to squat over a dirt hole to pee." These are all really great and awesome gifts, don't get me wrong! I am thankful for all of these things! But, it also revealed something in my heart: why is it that, for whatever reason, I'm only able to recognize these gifts in the context of comparison? Why is it that it doesn't come naturally to just think to myself  "I am thankful for sunshine... for a car that works... for a toilet"? A toilet, for gosh sakes! Is it that strange to be thankful for a toilet in and of itself!?

Apparently my instinct is to only recognize gifts in the context of being better off than someone else. And you know what, that reminded me of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:11-13... "God, I thank you that I am not like other men..." said the Pharisee. Hmmm, something about that similarity seems like bad news to me.

I think that true eurcharisteo happens only outside the context of comparison. Much has been made about the dange of comparison when you're on the losing end... however, this is teaching me that there is danger, too, in comparing when you're the one "winning." It is not for us to know all the ways in which God blesses others; maybe that hole in the ground is a blessing to someone else. Actually, I am sure that it is. So, all of this to say... I feel a conviction that true thanksgiving means recognizing the actual gift, and not recognizing simply the absence of something worse. For our God is one who gives abundantly! He should be praised rightly for that abundance, no?

Have you all ever noticed that tendency within yourselves, to give thanks for what you don't face instead of giving thanks for the abundance of what you have? What are your thoughts about it?