thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. A thankful heart. This has been on my heart lately. I started reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp which is really good. I am not done with it yet, but so far it has been about a life of thanksgiving. Someone challenged her to write a list of a thousand things she loves. She talks about how before Jesus was crucified he sat at the table and “took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them…” luke 22:19. In the original language, “he gave thanks” reads “eucharisteo”. “Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek work chara, meaning “joy”. ..Deep chara joy is found only at the table of the euCHARisteo- the table of thanksgiving. I sit there long…wondering…is it that simple?” She goes on to quote someone who said “the only real fall of man is a noneucharistic life in a noneucharistic world.” Ingratitude for all that God freely gives. Lord I don’t want to live a life like that.
Then in Luke 17 she talks about when Jesus heals the ten lepers to wholeness and only one came back to say thanks to Jesus and in Young’s literal translation it says, “And [Jesus] said to him, ‘Having risen, be going on, thy faith has saved thee.’” ‘ Saved thee’ is sozo in the Greek. Sozo means salvation. “And when did the leper receive sozo- the saving to the full, whole life? When he returned and gave thanks….Thanksgiving is inherent to a true salvation experience; thanksgiving is necessary to live the well, whole, fullest life.”
Another really interesting point so far is about naming. She talks about how each thing she puts on her list is a naming of the gifts God has given her whether it is something as simple as warm cookies out of the oven or praying for and kissing my girls before they go to sleep, “when I name moments I am Adam and I discover my meaning and God’s, and to name is to learn the language of Paradise. This naming work never ends for all the children of Adam. Naming to find an identity, our identity, God’s.” She goes on to quote Alexander Schmemann,
“Now in the Bible a name…reveals the very essence of a thing, or rather its essence as God’s gift…To name a thing is to manifest the meaning and value God gave it, to know it as coming from God and to know its place and function within the cosmos created by God. To name a thing, in other words, is to bless God for it and in it.”
I love this. It’s like a lightbulb has been going off in my head. I want to name the gifts and moments that I experience every moment of the day. I think I may challenge myself to a list of a thousand gifts. When you have a thankful heart for the big and small things I think it will bring me JOY. The abundant, full of life JOY that only come from Christ. Both times I have been pregnant I have been eager to know what we are going to name the baby. I think it has something to do with what Alexander is talking about. To name a child is to bless God for it and in it. I can start praying for that child by name before they are yet born. As I sit her on Father’s day I am just thinking I could list a hundred things I am thankful for just about Blake and another hundred things for my dad.
Dad:
Breakfast dates every Friday morning of my senior year.
Pitching practice
The sacrifices you and mom gave so we could have a good education.
Sharing books
Walking me down the aisle
Caring about what I was learning in anatomy or pharmacology
And the list could go on and on…
Blake:
That you share what is on your heart with me.
The way you love emery kate and molly
You love me well
Watching you walk in the door and greet EK and Molls.
Seeing you worship.
And the list could go on and on.
I want to name the moments of every day that are gifts.
Going into Molly’s room at 5 am and seeing her smiling and kicking her legs.
Emery Kate making Molly laugh.
Watching Emery Kate discover something new.
Warm coffee each morning.
A cool breeze on a hot day.
A big icy cherry diet coke anytime of the day.
Watching an old married couple still enjoying each other’s company at dinner.
Someone at church coming up to pray for me just b/c the Lord led them to.

I want to live a life of eucharisteo, a life of thanksgiving. A life full of JOY. So that in all things I can say Blessed be Your name, Lord.