This day has come to be the one when I share with you my gifts, the 1000 plus items I’ve chronicled that I am thankful to God for. I began keeping this list January 31, 2011. I stopped keeping this list September 29, 2011. It’s not that I consciously stopped. One day and the next and the next I had stopped writing my thanks in my journal and began speaking aloud my thanks. Sometimes I would smile as I acknowledged my gratitude in my mind or I showed it by doing something pleasing for someone else. I then understood that I no longer needed the practice of writing thanks in a journal but that I had become that living journal, going from “thanksgiving to thanksliving,” as Ann Voskamp says.

Me holding Justus and my copy of “One Thousand Gifts” by the incredibly talented Ann Voskamp

Voskamp is the author of the New York Times bestselling book “One Thousand Gifts,” based on her own challenge to record that many thanks. Her challenged revolutionized her life and taking on the challenge has revolutionized mine. I went from a chronic complainer (though mostly in my own mind) to one who more often assumes the best and doesn’t allow the worst to control me. This exercise has increased the evidence of my joy. My perspective is eternal and temporal things have been put into their proper temporary place; I engage them only but for a moment and turn my attention to Who and what matters: Jesus Christ and all the many blessings, big and small, that come from Him every single moment of every single day. Though I have stopped recording my gifts, I still have hundreds to share with you and even more if you follow me on Twitter (@RhonJSmith) thanks to the new “One Thousand Gifts” app. This app lets you chronicle your gifts on your phone or tablet and gives you the option to share them on Facebook, Twitter or Flickr. Sometimes I would forget to take my journal with me and would miss out on recording gifts. I rarely forget my phone so writing something that gives me great delight is so easy and I will have a record of a great memory.

Won’t you join the challenge and record your own 1,000 gifts or more? You can get the app through Apple and Android stores.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#331-340
Catching up with Kim and her volunteering to do the PR for the book signing
The church approving space for the book signing
Ruth visiting and bringing the boys nice gifts and the two of us lunch and having fine fellowship
Not having angst about Flynn being away three evenings in a row
Visiting Nana as she bereaves Dan
Discovering in Joshua’s school bag a carton of curdled milk, the source of the stinky smell
Feeding birds and watching them swoon on the food
The fluttering of happy bird wings
That I didn’t snap when I heard “Mommy, Mommy” for the umpteenth time
The love and joy of family