Sharing from the Heart ...

Twice a year, Mrs. Alexander (NNU's First Lady) hosts an event on-campus called "Women of NNU" for the ladies, and wives of men, who work at NNU.  It has become a delightful time to connect with other ladies within the NNU community.  Typically, there is a speaker(s) from within the NNU family who is invited to share a word of encouragement.  As you might have guessed, your's truly was tonight's speaker.  I spoke on gratitude and feel led to share my text here with you too. 

I stand here this evening feeling led to share how God has been calling me to be grateful – in each and ever circumstance.   Let’s take a quick trip back to any given day following a major holiday in the Marble household. 

Amanda, have you started your thank you notes?”

“No mom, I’ll do them later”  

“Amanda, you need to show gratitude for your gifts.  People put time and energy into picking just the right thing for you.” 

“I know, mom.  I’ll get it done.”

As you might guess, my mom was a stickler when it came to thank you notes.  It wasn’t an option.  It had to be done and done sooner than later.  As a child, thank you notes were just one more than between me and fun!  Yet, as I’ve matured (yes, I do chalk it up to maturity), I have grown to value the opportunity to thank others – the beautiful stationary and note cards don’t hurt either. 

So you can imagine my disappointment when I was sitting at a bridal shower last week and a young woman in attendance shared her frustration with thank you notes.   The bride-to-be had just finished opening her gifts.  She immediately stopped to express thanks to everyone in attendance for playing a valuable role in her life, for coming to her shower and giving of themselves for her future.  It was really beautiful. 

Seconds later, without missing a beat the young woman I mentioned earlier said, “Now, you have to write the thank you notes.”   I’m sure you can imagine her tone.  She continued on … “they take so much time … isn’t expressing thanks at the time the gift is opened enough?”  I sat there in disbelief, dumb-founded, and sad. 

Tut Riddick is another one that would have sat there with me … dumbfounded.  Tut is a grandmother who has been paying for her ‘very religious’ granddaughter to attend college.   Now, if there is a time to express thanks it is when someone is paying for your college education.  Yet Tut’s granddaughter was anything but thankful. 

As a result, in a note to her granddaughter Tut wrote “How can you know God when you can’t write a thank you note?”  Wow!  Tut was challenging her granddaughter’s religious nature in the midst of her ungratefulness.  Tut shared this situation with a friend, artist Amos P. Kennedy who created a print that posed this question.  What a poignant reminder of God’s presence in everything and our need to show gratitude for His presence and work in our lives.  As you might guess, when I saw the print at Kennedy’s art show on-campus last fall, I had to buy it.  Actually, I bought two.  One for the Career Center, where I encourage students to write a thank you note following an interview or networking opportunity and one for my house, as a daily reminder to give thanks. 

Now, if you asked my mom or Tut, they would say thank you notes are everything….extremely important.   Taking into account we’ve all grown up different … thank you notes may not be a make or break for you.  And that is okay – I’m not here to make anyone feel guilty with my “thank you note” soapbox, but I do believe thank you notes are one tangible way to express deep, heart-felt gratitude.  They allow us the opportunity to stop, reflect and formally give thanks for the blessings in our lives.  

I’ve been reading out of a devotional book this year called, “Jesus Calling.”  If you haven’t heard about it; I definitely recommend it.

Sarah Young has written the daily devotions from the perspective of God writing letters to His children.  It is powerful stuff; each and everyday.  I’d like to share with you the entry from February 25 that deeply spoke to me.

Rest In My Presence, allowing Me to take charge of this day.  Do not bolt into the day like a racehorse suddenly released.  Instead, walk purposefully with Me, letting me direct your course one step at a time.  Thank Me for each blessing along the way; this brings Joy to both you and Me.  A grateful heart protects you from negative thinking.  Thankfulness enables you to see the abundance I shower upon you daily.  Your prayers and petitions are winged into heaven’s throne room when they are permeated with thanksgiving.  In everything give thanks, for this is My will for you.

Thank God for each blessing along the way …

A grateful heart protects one from negative thinking.

Thankfulness enables you to see the abundance God showers upon you daily.

And from 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In everything give thanks, for this is my will for you.

Isn’t this great stuff?  God’s will for us, each and everyday, is to give thanks. 

In everything; in the midst of trials, in the joyful, laughable moments and when it is always needed … in the everyday ups and downs… give thanks! 

 

Let me share something about my faith journey with you.  God has never audibly spoken to me – I wish at times that was His SMO with me, but it is not.  However, as an avid reader, I have been richly blessed by the written word.   A recent book entitled, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp has been no exception.  The subtitle of One Thousand Gifts is “a dare to live fully, right where you are.”   Sound good? … it was!   So good, I am reading it for a second time within a two month period. 

Ann Voskamp is a wife and mother of six who lives on a farm in the Mennonite countryside of southwestern Ontario.  She is a gifted, lyrical writer who discovered in giving thanks for the life she already had, she found the life she’d always wanted. 

As you might guess by the title, she challenged herself to document 1,000 gifts in her life.  This challenge came after contemplating Jesus’ final acts before his death.  She questions “With an expiration of less than twelve hours, what does Jesus count as all most important?”  Her answer came from Luke 22:19, “And he took bread, gave thanks & broke it, and gave it to them …”

Voskamp goes on to study this passage.  I share with you her findings … [in the original language, “he gave thanks” reads “eucharisteo.”  The root word of eucharisteo is charis, meaning “grace.”  Jesus took the bread and saw it was grace and gave thanks.  He took the bread and knew it to be gift and gave thanks.  Eucharisteo, thanksgiving envelopes the Greek word for grace, but it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning “joy.”] 

Voskamp ponders the question, “Is the height of my chara joy dependent on the depths of my eucharisteo thanks?   Her pondering brings her to the realization, “As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible.”  In her continued reflections, Voskamp shares from First Corinthians 11:26, “whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup.” Notice the key word, whenever. “Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup.”  Eucharisteo – whenever: now. Joy – wherever: here.  Doesn’t Christ, at his death meal, set the entirety of our everyday bread and drink lives into the framework of eucharisteo? 

Just as Voskmap does in her book, challenging herself to “grab hold of eucharisteo, a lifestyle of thanksgiving,” so have I been challenged to be more intentional, more aware, more grateful in my own everyday life.  In adopting this lifestyle of thanksgiving, Ann decides as the title suggests to document 1,000 gifts.  The remainder of the book gives voice to this process in her life and how she comes to reflect on the day-to-day gifts in her life.

I have been challenged in reading this book to personally reflect on my own life.  There are moments, when my natural inclination is to be critical, when I know better is possible from a person or situation.  In the midst of this critical nature, I show a level of ingratitude – a discontentment with the here and now, even when I know God is present within it. I give thanks for a God who walks alongside us and gives us His grace for each day. 

Why not celebrate this grace and the many blessings God extends to us each day?  To express Eucharisteo?

Now, I’m not going to challenge you to chronicle the next 1,000 gifts in your life.  But, I would like to encourage you to take yourself on a journey over the next month.  Each day, be intentional to reflect on God’s presence in your life.  Give thanks – whether it be, big or small!   I took myself on this journey 12 years ago while in college.  I was finishing my sophomore year and started documenting each day a few things for which I was thankful that day.  

In honor of this evening, I found the journal and went back 12 years to find out what I was thankful for then.   On March 31, 1999, I was thankful for the snow, the ability to sing and worship and Albertson’s French bread.  Obviously, some things were a bit more superficial than others.  Yet, in expressing thanksgiving, even 12 years ago, I was able to reflect on the joy in my life.  And I will tell you, being able to read through that journal again yesterday, still gave me joy.

As I conclude this evening, I want to encourage you to read One Thousand Gifts, but more importantly, I want to urge you to be document your thankfulness.  On your table, you will find a flyer for you to take with you. It gives you space to express gratitude each day through April. 

Begin a habit in your life … you might just find that one day, you not only write down what you were grateful for that day, but it expressing that gratefulness you are urged to pull out a thank you card too.  In everything, give thanks and experience joy! 

May we start a movement of Eucharisteo!