How are we doing at this point in December? Are we all overwhelmed yet?
Decorating the house, decorating the tree, making baked goods, buying presents, wrapping presents, mailing cards, the lists go on and on.
But what do we want to be our focus?
The greatest gift of all - Jesus!
And, so, to focus on HIM, it helps if I focus on the gifts He has given me!
I write them out in a list!
:: from the archives ::
{unfortunately, a lot of these links no longer work}
It is the beginning of the list season: lists of menus, lists of hand-made projects, lists of addresses, lists of baking goodies ... lists of gifts.
I too begin... but only, currently, one list: A List of a Thousand Things, beginning with #1. I am daily jotting down items on my Thousand Gifts List, working, one-by-one, up to a thousand gifts. Not of gifts I want. But of gifts I have.
So begins an article that caught my attention in November 2006, and which propelled me onto this journey of keeping a gratitude list.
This List of a Thousand Things just might be the only item you need to put on your Christmas gift list this year!
Are you looking for meaningful Christmas gift ideas which won't break your budget? How about a pretty notebook or journal (from the dollar store or handmade by you) with a note giving the recipient the idea of keeping a gratitude journal? It may very well be the best gift your friends and family receive this year!
(Consider printing the following pages and giving them with the notebook: The Thousand Gifts and/or Gratitude Community. Or consider personalizing your gift by adding some hand-written quotes about thankfulness or Scripture verses on this theme.)
As Ann writes at A Holy Experience,
But consider yourself warned: counting gifts is addictive and becomes the happiest of habits that becomes away of living praise!
[B]egin to feel more joy, less stress, better health, more connected in your relationships, and more delight in your everyday life. Praise is what we are made for!
In November 2006, I began writing 1000 gifts in a special journal. My friends could tell that something had changed. And when I reached 1000 and ... stopped (gasp!), my friends could also tell. Thus I began again, in August 2008, because I knew my heart needed the discipline of growing in thankfulness.
Volume two began with humble beginnings, as I mustered thankfulness for the very basic essentials of life, but one becomes thankful by being thankful, and as time has gone on, my eyes have been opened to more and more gifts given to me by the Giver of all good gifts.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
You can read Volume two, numbers 1-99, of my my 1000 Gifts entries here.
You can read Ann, the originator's list here (with beautiful photos).
