Monday, January 2, 2012

Thank-you, One Thousand Times!


I just began a book called, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp.  It recently became available at our church library, and I was fortunate enough to sign it out yesterday.  I have only read two chapters, but this book has already brought me to tears several times.  Without giving anything major away, what I've read so far has to do with accepting the grace God provides, particularly during times of loss, pain and grief.  I think it's going to be a favorite book of mine.  My intent was to pre-read it before buying it and giving it away to a friend of mine who has experienced some great losses recently.  Hopefully it will be an encouragement to her.

I am not exactly sure where this book is headed with the concept of the "one thousand gifts" thing, but my suspicion is that it is going to suggest keeping track of gifts we find in our day-to-day living.  The promo line on the book is, "A DARE TO LIVE FULLY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE."  So, that is what I am going to attempt to do this year.  One of the ways I hope to accomplish this is by keeping track of 1000 gifts/blessings I experience in 2012.  Since this year is a leap year, there are 366 days to keep track of this, which means I need to list 2.73 "gifts" per day.  So, I'll just round that up to 3 and that way I should come up with over a thousand gifts.

I contemplated the best way to track my "gift list", and have decided to use my blog as the means to get my thankfulness out there.  This will give me a reason to post more often, and I can expand on my list items if I so choose to.  I would really like to focus on the positive this year as opposed to the negative, and I'm hoping that blogging about these things will help me stay focused on that goal.  Some of the things I am thankful for will seem silly; some will seem profound.  I want to be real, so real is what you are going to get.  I don't think God minds if we are grateful for the "little things in life" . . . after all, He gave them to us.

Since I missed doing this yesterday, today I'm going to list 6.

1 - 6 of my Thousand Gifts
1.  The gift of Newness.  A new year . . . a time to set new goals and look ahead to the future.

2.  The gift of Hamburger. This is my favorite meat product to work with because it is so versatile and my children and husband do not seem to tire of it.  Today we had Stove-Top Beef Stroganoff, a recipe I concocted myself.  It's one of my boys' favourites!

3.  The gift of Holidays.  My time off has allowed me to re-balance myself after a previously-chaotic month.

4.  The gift of Dogs.  I have three - I love them all for different reasons and I am so glad that God gave us "Man's Best Friend."

5.  The gift of Snow.  We recently received more, for which I am thankful.  I don't think I've ever lived in such a brown winter prior to this year.  The whiteness makes everything better.

6.  The gift of Chocolate.  My boys stocked me up with a tonne of chocolate this year for Christmas, and I never tire of eating it.

3 comments:

~Rain``` said...

Happy counting!

Anita said...

I have started reading that book as well, and it could be a life-changer.

Thankfulness is my theme for this upcoming year.

BTW - I am thankful that you are still blogging! :o)

Michelle said...

That book has been on my "to read" list for awhile. I am glad to hear that you are enjoying it. I'm not sure if you have an iphone or ipod, but Ann Voskamp has a free app for recording you One Thousand Gifts. She also has a blog, which I have followed for about a year now, at http://www.aholyexperience.com/

As for your gift of ground beef...the following is a recipe that I used to make all of the time when I lived in Saskatchewan. Just thought I would share, since it is quick and easy.

Mozza-Spaghetti Skillet

1 lb. ground beef
2 cups mushrooms
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green or red pepper
1-28 oz. can tomatoes, undrained
1 cup water
1-1/2 cups broken spaghetti
1-1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
¾ tsp. salt
2 cups mozzarella, shredded

Sauté and drain the beef, mushrooms, onion and green or red pepper. Add the remaining ingredients with the exception of the mozzarella. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until spaghetti is tender. Top with mozzarella cheese and serve.