I’ve been reading a book called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Quite good, actually! It’s really been making me think, because the whole premise of her book is figuring out how to live the full life. What makes it full?
As the busy-ness of school sets in and quarters are ending, it’s hard to not feel rushed and just waiting for that spring break to get here. But as I prepared for the faculty devotions that I gave this morning, some things I read in this book came back to me.
“When one is thirsty one quenches one’s thirst by drinking, not by reading books which treat of this condition.” (quoted from her, but originally attributed to Jean Pierre de Cussade…)
Oh, how often I look for rest in places other than the true fountain of rest: the Lord Himself.
(And especially spending time in His Word, not reading other books about the Bible.)
So, that’s point #1. Get in the Word.
Moving on to point #2:
“’Pork chops, potatoes, peas, it was all just food to me.’ I hand down the plate with extras for the boys looking eager. They kneel up on chairs to eye out that one square that’s just a smidge bigger. ‘But Grandma’s apple pie? Her butterscotch squares? She didn’t have to tell me to slow down then!’ A boy takes a big bite, too big, smiles knowingly. I look around at their faces, their taste buds all alive, eyes shining delight in the sweet.
When did I stop thinking life was dessert?
I push back from the table. Push away from regrets. They need something to drink. I clatter out the stainless steel glasses. Pour out the cold milk and think of the strangers walking briskly, blithely along to Emmaus, oblivious to the God-skin before their eyes. Only in the slowing, the sitting down at the table, when His hands held the bread and the thanks fell from His tongue, do the open-eyed, the wide-eyed, see the Face they face (Luke 24:13-35). The fast have spiritually slow hearts.
I carry the cups back to the table.
My drained empty body has stopped and my soul has caught up and if I give thanks here, Whom might I recognize? I pass two cups down to the end of the table. It takes a full 20 minutes after your stomach is full for your brain to register satiation. How long does it take for your soul to realize that your life is full? The slower the living, the greater the sense of fullness and satisfaction….
…This day is not a sieve, losing time….I am filling, gaining time…
…I want to savor long whatever time holds.” ~Ann Voskamp
That’s a smattering from chapter 4. Oh. How I want to live like that – enjoying, even savoring the moments God gives me – because they are purposeful and full of blessings.
Reiterating point #2: Savor Time.
Which leads nicely into point #3: Be thankful.
Ann Voskamp has started to write out one thousand things that she is thankful for, hence the title of her book One Thousand Gifts. And oh, how much more joy I can see when I train my eyes to look for blessings. Even the very little things….because, let’s face it – that’s the stuff life is made of!
And so, pulling together the three points:
1. Be in the Word.
2. Savor Time.
3. Be Thankful.
This leads me to the ending of my prepared faculty devotions for this morning. It’s something that stuck out to me as I was taking time in the Word yesterday, trying to savor it and look for the blessings. And this is the thing I am most thankful for today (and truly, should be every day…).
Lamentations 2:13-14 “What can I say to you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea; who can heal you? Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but they have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.”
We are in dire straits! For real! And God doesn’t sugar coat it; exposing the misdeeds is truly how we can be restored, as the verse says.
But who can heal us?
Isaiah 50:2 “ Is my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to save you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea…”
He dries up the wha? The sea???? He can dry up places as big as our sin?
Micah 7:18-19 “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
Where? The sea? And we can fill it with our iniquities. We’re that good at being bad. BUT…He not only removes our iniquities – He can dry them up. He can get rid of them!
And in place of sin….
Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
Someday, hopefully soon - there won’t even be any more traces of sin, even in tears down our cheeks – because instead of that gaping chasm of sin, we will be able to only see the glory of the Lord.
Hooray!
Come, Lord Jesus.
And until then – may we all strive to keep spending time in the Word, savoring the moments we are given, which when viewed with a thankful heart are truly, truly RICH in blessings.
