A Gratitude List

About a week and a half ago I opened Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, and began to read. I have been a fan of Ann's blog, A Holy Experience, for a while. I ordered her book several months ago, intending to read it this summer. I sat down to begin it at 7:30 AM and read it straight through before noon. It is a powerfully moving testimony about the role that gratitude (and ingratitude) plays in our lives, in shaping us into a particular kind of person.

She encourages the reader to get a notebook of some sort (she's a big fan of the nifty little Moleskine notebooks) and to begin a gratitude list, observing the daily experiences of life for which you are grateful. Some of these are small and ordinary, but they are all grace. She challenges us to keep working on the list until we have identified a thousand gifts that are ours. The purpose is not to come up with a thousand items to check off a list. The practice is intended to help us learn to see the world differently, to be more and more aware of the grace of God in our lives in a myriad of ways.

Gratitude lists are not new. Psalm 103 is an ancient one. I grew up singing "Count Your Many Blessings," as a part of Baptist piety. People working the Twelve Steps in recovery are often encouraged to start a gratitude list. Before reading Ann's book I finished James Bryan Smith's The Good and Beautiful God. He also advocated the use of a gratitude list.

I have taken her challenge and am up to about a hundred and fifteen so far. At first I just reflected over the course of my life and listed people and experiences that I see as God's grace in my life. But then I decided I would not be so systematic. I would benefit more from the exercise if I would work on the present. So I've try to find several each day. Here are some of my favorites so far.

69. The smell of coffee freshly ground.

71. Comical squirrels stealing from the bird feeder.

83. Cold water with lime after working in the heat.

92. Long drive through the Texas countryside listening to Willie and Nanci.

97. A big dog's grateful look after removing skunk odor. 

98. Coloring with a five year old.

102. Laughing babies. 

103. Spider eyes glowing like emeralds in the grass.

105. Tickling a toddler until he laughs uncontrollably. 

106. A shade tree to change a flat under.

113. Making little girls roll their eyes.

114. Feeling really proud of your kids because of who they have become.

I'll post others occasionally.