When we were in Italy last fall, our hotel in Florence was next to a little stationary store called Il Papiro. (http://www.ilpapirofirenze.it/index.asp) I love paper and stationary and cards and the window display was too enticing. We walked in and I fell in love – even though the music playing was “Harper Valley PTA.” (What!? Not Pavarotti, not Dean Martin’s “Volare,” not “Funuculì Funiculà”? I digress.) I gave it some grace when I met the owner, who is American, and has stores throughout Italy and a few in America. I designed the paper to cover a few journals to give as gifts and kept one for myself. I didn’t know what to do with it but I knew it had to be for something special, something I would want to look at a lot, and something that would be with me for a long time. As I read One Thousand Gifts in December, it became apparent.
For the past year, this book has been making the rounds in the Christian women’s circles. You may know the cover of a little girl holding a bird’s nest with eggs resting in it. The basis of the book is one that is common to both people in the church and outside – be thankful. Living a life of gratitude is very in vogue – and not that that is a bad thing. But merely thinking positive thoughts is not enough – it still somehow ends up me-centered and speaking out thanks to no one in particular – it is just putting those thankful thoughts “out there.”
Voskamp’s book focuses more on being thankful as a commandment from the Lord, and for that alone, I appreciated the book. Voskamp’s writing style does not resonate with me as I tend not be a romantic person – I don’t mean lovey-dovey romantic, but to commune with nature and speak of things with lyrical words. Books filled with rhetorical questions and paragraphs comprised of a single sentence just don’t do it for me (not talking just about her – this is in general). While her writing style doesn’t do it for me, it is how she lives her life and I admire her for it; it is just not me. So, I let that part of the book go and focused more on her message.
Her message is quite simple but not easy; it is plain yet very complicated and complex. Living in a mentality of thankfulness impacts all parts of our lives, all our attitudes, how we maneuver through life in a God-centered way. I appreciated her reminding me that this is a true, conscious effort: to live with gratitude. It does not come easy when, as the author writes, our lives feel unfulfilled. Any busy mom knows that. We can get short-sighted when we see the laundry and the books left off the shelf and the pair of glasses that have to be replaced again due to negligence. I was glad Voskamp did not turn this into a Pollyanna fix – just think happy thoughts, be grateful and all will be ok. I think we have all tried that for a few minutes and given up – and then felt guilty that we couldn’t hold on to happiness longer.
It is an overwhelming task to retrain the mind to not be negative and be thankful. This is where Voskamp’s title comes in – one thousand gifts. She began keeping a list of things for which she was thankful and was challenged by a friend to keep it going to recording 1,000 gifts of thanks. Her book encourages keeping that list and as I watched a few friends put it into practice, they all remarked the change they were seeing in their lives.
I carry my small Florentine journal with me everywhere and whenever I find myself at peace, smiling to myself or overwhelmed by some grace around me, it gets written down. It is this physical practice of being grateful and thankful that reminds me to think more thankfully, to look around me for things to be thankful for, and to voice that praise whether to God to my kids to my husband. It does spread throughout your mind and heart, then to your eyes. It moves toward my words and my hands as I write. It is an actual change that you can feel and see. As I have aged, I realize that big expectations can be defeating and that the small victories are much sweeter and encouraging. Voskamp’s theory works – retraining the mind, one sentence at a time.
I encourage you to read the book and even if the style does not speak to you, the lessons and encouragements will.
No comments:
Post a Comment