Currently reading Ann Voskamp’s 1000 gifts. This book could not have come at a better time in my life. I am learning to practice gratitude in all things. It’s easy to be grateful for a promotion, paychecks and a date on prom night, but Ann shows how to be grateful for the small beautiful gifts God gives us everyday. On her list of a thousand gifts, she has simple things like mail in the mailbox or the way light plays across a room. On my list beautiful things like the flutter of bird’s wings above me, a full moon, a meaningful conversation with a repairman, laughter from another room.
Ann says over and over “the remedy is in the retina” Gifts are everywhere. We just have to open our eyes and see. Though not as poetic, I would say that the remedy is in the senses. When I give thanks for everything, food tastes better, music is more pleasing, and flowers more aromatic. The big transformation for me was when I got up at 3 a.m. to go get my son from work, a task that usually reminds me of my loneliness and makes me grumble. But when I started practicing gratitude and went outside that winter morning, the snow looked different. Seriously, it had changed. It wasn’t ordinary dull snow, it looked like diamonds in a field of goose down. Gratitude transforms what we see. God has given us such a beautiful world, so many gifts.
