My sister-in-law gave me a beautiful book last year, or maybe it was the year before, I can't remember. I can't remember when she gave it to me because my life was zooming by at lightning speed. I was barely taking enough time to breathe before trying to attack my next task. "My name is Lauren, and I am a workaholic." Of course this addiction to finish task after task, to check off my life as quickly as possible may have been the sole reason I can't remember exactly when Rebecca gave me an oxygen-filled book. I read through it, to check it off. I remember the theme was thankfulness and there was a bird's nest on the cover. Sadly, I am sure this was NOT the response Rebecca was praying for when she gave me this gift.
1,000 Gifts.
No...that's the name of the book. One Thousand Gifts. Have you read it? Have you taken a moment to breathe in the middle of your chaotic day? I found myself leafing through its pages recently. This time, oxygen filling the room. And I, taking the moment, to breathe it all in.
Ann Voskamp, author, shares her journey of learning to live fully within the moment simply by focusing not on the list of today-tomorrow-next week, but on the gifts of joy that God gives in the moment. It's the sunlight that reflects off the hardwood floors, the song of birds in the middle of winter.
I started my list. Have you? Take just a minute - 60 seconds - and look around. What beauty do you see, hear, smell, taste, or feel? Write it down. Remember it. Remember that that simple thing was placed in your life at that exact moment by a God who knows you intimately and loves you beyond words.
Finished chapter 5. I remembered. Rebecca gave me the book in 2011. It was a time of deep heartache. Isn't it funny how we block out painful memories once we are standing in the sun? We were staring infertility straight in the eye when Rebecca gave me this book. I read it without letting it connect to my heart's deepest pain. I had built a fortress. I could have been so blessed then if I had only let the words sink in.
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