Here's the description of the book from Ann's website:
Ann Voskamp’s story is not happily ever after. As a child, her sister was crushed under a truck in front of her and her mother. Consequently, her mother checked herself into a psychiatric hospital and her father couldn’t find God. As an adult, she stood beside her brother-in-law as he buried his first two sons. Voskamp is a wife and mother who does not grin through the pain but battles to believe that in God is joy, and that there are as many gifts amid the grittiness of life as in the moments of celebration.
In One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, Ann strives to find the meaning of life and fully embrace the surprising truth from the final scenes of Jesus’ earthly life. In the hours before Jesus’ execution, he took bread and gave thanks. This fresh, heart-wrenching book unveils the long forgotten wonder that through the imitation of Christ’s thankfulness, we too can experience a life of joy.I'll admit that I didn't like the book at the beginning. It was kind of a downer as she talked graphically about how hard her childhood was and how much she struggled with her faith. But once she starts working through what God had to teach her through the last supper, the book took a turn for the best.
With startling lyrical power, Voskamp writes the answers to universal questions:
The laundry keeps piling up, dishes never end, kids fight and people die. But regardless of circumstances, the dare of the “gift list” shows Voskamp a way to live even through the dullness and hurts of life. Through the aches and triumphs, she finally sees what she’s been missing, something that so many women can’t seem to find in their everyday lives.
- Where is joy in the midst of cruelty and chaos, duties and despair?
- How does one slow down enough for the soul and God to live in synch?
- How in the world do we learn to find God and live fully?
The truth is, an attitude of grattitude is difficult to come by these days. Like many of the spiritual disciplines, a lifestyle of celebration takes practice. So she started recording all of the little things that she found to be thankful for throughout the day. She swore to keep going until she reached 1,000 gifts. It wasn't long until she had surpassed that goal, and gained a whole new lifestyle that brought her the peace and joy she'd been lacking all her life.
She has so many wonderful insights, and I found myself constantly writing down quotes that I wanted to remember and meditate on in the future. I haven't started yet, but I think I should take the challenge and start a running list of 1,000 gifts in my own life. I have a tendency to get burned out and overwhelmed when things get hectic. I think that if I were disciplined enough to stop and think about how truly blessed I am and how good God is every day, it would help improve my attitude and - consequently - my marriage and my work. When I'm humble enough to get over myself and focus on praising and serving God instead, everyone will benefit!
For as she says, "This work - the thousand endless jobs - they each give the opportunity for one to become the gift, a thousand times over! Because with every one of the thousand, endless jobs, I become the gift to God and to others because this work is the public God-serving, the daily liturgy of thanks, the completing of the communion service with my service" (200).
I wish I would have sat down to blog about all I learned from this book right after I finished it. I know I would have had so much more to share - so many thoughts, so many convictions, so many blessings. But you'll either have to take my word for it, or try reading the book yourself: this is a fantastic book and will change your life!
Kim's Gift List:
1) God speaks through the written word.
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