Book Reflection: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

(This post was originally written in July of 2019 as a newsletter) “The real problem of life is never a lack of time. The real problem of life -in my life- is a lack of thanksgiving.”-Ann Voskamp.

As I’m sitting down with a cup of coffee to begin writing about June/July, I’m extremely tempted to just share my favourite parts from the book mentioned above because most of what I will be sharing with you today is based on my experience of that book. Perhaps these emotions are intensified because I’ve been reading five books at the same time (always) for the past two years… maybe finishing two a year – and maybe starting about fifteen throughout. But how ironic is it that the book I choose to read end-to-end (and again) is about time! slowing down! giving thanks! worship! joy! 

T H E   E M P T Y I N G 

In this season, it’s been harder to see the good than in the previous. Harder to see blessings… that means the blessings were still there. I think we become so clouded by other things that we cannot really know what to cling to. Which is why I’m not surprised to say that the first thing I wanted to share is about emptying. For something new and fresh to come out of you; you must be filled with something different than the usual – but how is that going to happen if your time is stuffed to the brim with mediocre things? “If you don’t have time for what matters, stop doing things that don’t.”

One of my mentors in my gap year taught me through a metaphor that we juggle everything in life- but some of these balls are made of glass, and other of rubber.  You have to identify those that cannot be dropped, and those that will bounce right back. The realisation followed that with fewer balls to juggle, I’d be able to see to handle each one better. So I step back, I say no, I pause, I put down a rubber ball, and I empty out. It takes a single minute in the Karoo for me to realise how small I really am; and a single night in a snow-covered Basotho hut to realise how little I really need. So once again the challenge was to learn how to be grateful and happy, hands full or hands empty (Phil 4:11). Emptying is minimalism- and it’s biblical!

T H E   F I L L I N G 

The emptying is like throwing dried out flowers from a vase and filling it with fresh ones. But you who know me well, know I’m not the biggest fan of flowers. Why go through the trouble of emptying the vase, if it’s just refilled with flowers that will die again? So the vase (or glass juggling ball) is emptied out and filled with soil and a little brave-hearted plant with big plans. The juggling ball becomes a terrarium that holds life. When we empty ourselves out, and declutter all the mess, we are filled with HOPE. Suddenly there is space, possibilities, and opportunities that are breathtakingly beautiful.

In this sense, the filling actually precedes the emptying: instead of thinking what to remove from your life to make it better; just let your pile of good things grow. Being a Christian is not about just actively trying not to sin, it is rather about seeing God face to face and the more we do that, the fewer our sins will become. The filling precedes the emptying- The easiest way to be filled is simply by being fully present, fully aware. Yet how often do we go through life with eyes closed? “Thanks makes now a sanctuary. Thank God for the time, and very God enters that time…” Have you noticed how Jesus pauses before he acts? How he thanks before he continues? How thanks precedes the miracle? A grateful heart is constantly looking for blessings, constantly filling with the simple message: God is good.

W H A T   R E M A I N S 

And as with fewer possessions, you can love the things that remain more fully. After this emptying of the past, and this filling of promise, it was as if I could see for the first time. He will finish the good work that he started. He will not hide his face from those who seek him. He blesses abundantly when we turn back to him, slow down, and say thank you (Luke 17:19). “We are emptied to become full… full of grace… to be fully alive”. So that what once was experienced as brief moments of seeing God can be transformed into a constant state of living in the light of the Spirit! Joy! God-moments is not just one more of the juggling balls, it is everything. “The only place we need to see before we die is this place of seeing God, here and now”. 

If you are up to it, I challenge you to start your own list like this book about 1000 blessings that I read – naming gifts; writing down the sources of joy; noticing the little things – and to share that with me. Start with 10, or maybe three each evening. In this place of seeing God, all is grace; all is to be thankful for; all is time-full.

May your joy be complete!