I'm no quitter

I'm am blessed to be part of an amazing small group comprised of five unbelievable women. They are all so different and so special to me. We started meeting before our new church officially started small groups. We just knew it was something we all needed and decided to go for it and see what happened. That was sometime in the spring of 2010. Here we are, February 2012 and still meeting together.

Last year we read through the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I think the consensus is that this is still one of the group's favorite books. I didn't hate it or anything, but it just wasn't necessarily my style. It was a little to touchy, feely for my taste. But still, there was a great message that I was able to take away and for that I am thankful.

Basically, the premise of the book is that all gifts, large and small, are from God. When we start to look at all of those little things in our daily lives as gifts, it changes our attitude completely. It keeps your mind in a constant state of thankfulness and opens your eyes to further understand the depths of God's love for you even in the most mundane, everyday things.

For example, all of those green lights on the way to work are no longer a coincidence or fleeting thought, but a blessing from the Creator of the universe. The sweet word from a friend is not just a kind gesture or confirmation of a friendship, but an encouragement from the Lord that your friend so graciously delivered.  

The challenge of the book is to not just start to recognize these gifts, but to write them down - keep a running list - and just to put a number to it, the author challenged us to make it to 1,000 gifts and then to reflect on how our life and our attitude has changed. She said over and over that thankfulness always proceeds the miracle.

Months ago me and the other lovely ladies in my small group started our lists. I made it to #125 and then just stopped. I didn't stop on purpose, it just happened.

I've had a rough past few weeks and my attitude has been everything except for one of gratitude. At the end of the disappointment and frustration, I was just left feeling so incredibly weak. This weekend, I ran one errand, went to a baby shower, to church, and to lunch with a friend. Other than those few hours, I was quite literally laying in my bed both day and night. I even type this not from my usual space in my office, but under the comforter of by bed. That is how weak I have felt!

Thankfully the Lord had a few fresh insights for me today and I'm ready to leave my bed come tomorrow morning in order to face another week. He challenged my heart with a few things and one of them was to continue the recording of gifts. After all, I am a lot of things, but a quitter is not one of them.

This evening I rescued my notebook from my bottom drawer (conveniently right next to my bed) and started to record gifts. This time I will reach 1,000.

Will you join me on this journey? I promise not to overload you with my personal list, but at least by throwing it out there in a blog there is some form of accountability. Every once in a while I'm going to post my latest few gifts until I get to 1,000. I hope they encourage the heart of someone somewhere out there in cyberspace.

#126 - popcorn for dinner
#127 - Valentine's Day roses
#128 - Florida oranges
#129 - the love of my parents