Monday, September 20, 2010

Multitude Monday

holy experience

Today, I'm starting a new 'experiment', if you will...a gratitude list.  But not just any gratitude list - this one is a little different.  I've done 'Thankful Thursday' lists here before, and have been thinking of starting a more 'daily' gratitude journal recently.  Then as I was exploring (in)Courage today, I happened upon the blog of one of the authors, Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience and discovered the Thousand Gifts List.  I think it was a divine appointment, as I fell in love with and am intrigued by this idea.  Here is a sampling of what the Thousand Gifts List is in Ann's words:
"I am daily jotting down items on my Thousand Gifts List, working, one-by-one, up to a thousand gifts. Not of gifts I want. But of gifts I have.


As the moments slip down the hour glass of time, I am scratching down the gifts---just as they happen, as they arrive, as they are unwrapped---that He has given that make my life grace, the daily graces that He gives in an infinite number of ways, that stir me.


I am seeing things I have never seen before, atuned and aware of this constant, endless stream of gifts from His hand. I am one waking from slumber....from the stupor of indifference and ignorance. I have sight, fresh and keen---the world is new and full of His gifts.


Too often I miss Him, oblivious, blind. I don't see all the good things that He is giving me, gracing me with, brushing my life with. True, He is everywhere, always. But maybe, before The Gift List, I thought of Him as further off, not so close. When I started to see all the things that I love bestowed upon me, I started to see Him as near, present, everywhere, showering me with good things. Seeing the things I love all around me gives me eyes to see that I am loved, that He loves me."
WOW. Join me if you will, on this journey of enlightenment and gratitude.  I haven't figured out yet how many items I want to aim to list each day, or if I even do.  I may just keep my journal handy and jot them down as they come to me and see how that goes.  And I'm sure it will be varied - some of it may be 'deep', some of it will be 'small', silly stuff. (see below) But I will post each week for Multitude Mondays some or perhaps all of my weekly discoveries.  I'll think on it and let you know my plan next week.  Here are my first gifts:

1.  My beautiful, perfect children.  Not because they're perfect - but they're perfect gifts from God to me as their mother.   
2.  The way my 2yr-old daughter lowers her brow when talking intensely about something. 
3.  Sonic ice.
4.  The beautiful music at A Holy Experience's  website.
5.  The amazing (in)Courage online community...it never ceases to bless me in ways only God would have a hand in!

I am so excited to see what God has in store as I open myself up to discover His blessings and handiwork that are all around me, and perhaps to even explore a little more of myself.

To start your own Thousand Gifts List click here and join the Gratitude Community!  Thanks, to Ann at A Holy Experience for this gift of grace!

1 comment:

Cheryl Barker said...

What a great idea, Kristi. I've been keeping a gratitude journal for two or three years now, and it truly does help open your eyes to the blessings God is giving each day. May God bless you as you thank Him each day!