""Blessings Strengthen life and feed life just as water does." Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

This blog is a digital blessing bowl, a place to record the small blessings that are often missed or forgotten but which make life holy. Feel free to add your own blessings to my blessing bowl. Or perhaps you'll be encouraged to start your own.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

"A practice of the eyes"

“Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant—a seed—this plants the giant miracle.” 

“...life change comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change.” 

“The practice of giving thanks...eucharisteo...this is the way we practice the presence of God, 
stay present to His presence, and it is always a practice of the eyes. 
We don't have to change what we see. Only the way we see.”
Ann Voskamp

I recently read Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts and was moved and inspired by it in so many ways.  The book is currently #4 in its category on the New York Times bestseller list .   
The video below is a trailer of sorts for the book.



This is a book to read and re-read - to highlight and mark up and quote from, to download to 
your e-reader, to share with friends.  
The book reminded me of  why I started this blog, but it also showed me that what I have been trying to do has only touched the surface of what giving thanks means.  
As Ann Voskamp says, 

“Eucharisteo—thanksgiving—always precedes the miracle.” 

 Giving thanks - it seems simple and easy.  In reality it means changing the way you see.  It means changing your life minute by minute, day by day.  It requires patience and practice.  
 
Here are a few of the things I've listed in my gratitude journal this month:
Warm shower, hot coffee
A hug from my brother
Deja Vu at the pool with Sy
A good long run
Home with my love
Walking into a warm house on a cold night
Crocuses lined up by the walkway

JH's smile, G's batman cape
Glorious, glorious sunset
Bird song in the morning
Sharing a meal with a friend
A full moon through the trees
A good long run
Happy faces and excitement at the park with M & E
Heated car seats on a cold morning
Holy Communion
An afternoon nap and a good book
Tulips on Valentine's Day
Champagne with dinner
Gentle rain
Budding forsythia


Origin of EUCHARIST
Middle English eukarist, from Anglo-French eukariste, from Late Latin eucharistia, from Greek, Eucharist, gratitude, from eucharistos grateful, from eu- + charizesthai to show favor, from charis favor, grace, gratitude; akin to Greekchairein to rejoice — more at yearn
First Known Use: 14th century
from Merriam Webster dictionary

4 comments:

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

What a lovely, inspiring post. I've got this book on my wishlist and hope to get it soon.

FlowerLady

Donna said...

Ginny this sounds like a marvelous book...I see we have some similar thing see are grateful for...I love how you give thanksgiving for the gift before you get it...practice and patience...I will remember this

Stacy said...

Ginny, thank you so much for this post--it really filled a need this week. It's funny how I can truly, deeply believe that gratitude is the first step toward joy and still forget to be grateful sometimes. It's never the big things that get in the way, just the rut of daily life and forgetting to see each new day as something fresh. Bless you.

Lyn said...

This is a wonderful idea for a blog, Ginny. I believe gratitude opens my heart to God and allows Him to pour more of Himself and His love into it.