I’m thankful. Yes, so thankful, but ever thankful enough? Probably not. I read (or attempted to read) a book by Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. The book goes kind of like the title, a little to flowery and verbose for my liking. But on Amazon, Voskamp’s book has received 1,800 outstanding reviews, and I’ve got to agree with some of them.
Voskamp is one of those over-achieving types. She’s a farmer’s wife, raising six kids, and author of several NYT best-selling books. Basically, one of those, “how on Earth would she find time to write books?” types. She blogs here, if you want to read more about her.
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| Ann with her fam, holding a word you’ll know if you read any of her book… |
Yesterday was a bad day for me. Not because anything exceptionally bad happened, but the way my body and my mind felt. I felt like I was dragging around a lethargic frame and was easily irritated with whomever was by my side…that person happened to be my husband for much of the day. Matt was busy doing manly chores (installing electrical timers, antennae, and a fan remote) and I was melting into the couch, wanting to sleep…but instead feeling like I should do something since MG was doing chores. Matt got a paper cut from the antennae box, had some wires not cooperate, basically he felt like there were unfortunate happenings piling up, and he said, “Of course, that would happen.” Following it up with something like, “These things can never be easy, can they?”
I thought about it and said, “Yeah, they can. We just never appreciate it when things are easy.” Truthfully, things are usually easy in my life. That’s why I get irritated when I’m easily irritated (vicious cycle), because I KNOW I have no reason in the world to be ticked off at people…and typically, when I feel anger rile up toward someone, it’s for a dumb reason.
We listened to a Keller sermon about good anger vs. bad anger. Did you know there can be good anger? The easiest example is when a child disobeys their parents and puts their life and someone else’s in peril. The parent is angry because they love their child. Bad angry occurs when you’re stuck in traffic and wanting to lay on the horn when someone switches lanes and puts yet another car between you and your destination. You’re not angry with that car because you love the occupants, you’re angry because you did not allot enough time to get to your destination. That was incriminating– most often, when I’m mad, it’s because people are in my way/keeping me from doing things in my life (which must be so much more important than anyone else’s).
Oh, back to Voskamp’s book. She took a year to start listing off things she’s thankful for. A thousand things. My breaking point was when she was describing the beauty of natural light reflecting off soap suds in her kitchen sink while doing dishes. That’s wonderful that she was able to find beauty in her kitchen sink, but I need to start with a bigger picture than the magnificence of dishwashing. That just tells you how advanced she is in the art of giving thanks.
How much more would I appreciate everyday if I had a little counter in my brain which ticked each time something slightly good happened in my day. I’d look at the number at the end of the day and be blown away.
A happy outlook: I woke up healthy- feeling good, I had time to slowly sip my coffee, my husband gave me a good morning kiss, my dogs did not destroy anything, I had a quiet morning to reflect/read/pray, so many people we love are getting married this year, etc.
My typical outlook: Ugh, my alarm. Of course, we’re out of creamer. Oh, no time for a kiss, I’m working MG. Dogs, dogs calm down, I really cannot handle your energy at this hour…Man, I’m wasting time- do something productive, Annie. Ugh, we’re traveling again next weekend. I just want to be swallowed by our couch.
It’s funny how paralyzing the desire to be productive can be. Yesterday, I started a weekend to-do list to insure I used my two days wisely. What did I do yesterday? I did a spin class with my Ford kids, made breakfast, went on fun errands with Matt to Best Buy, World Market (in love!), and Home Depot, made peanut butter oatmeal protein balls (and ate six), then I should have taken a nap to try to dream away my irritability. I’m going to go ahead and blame those delicious protein balls for my sudden lethargy.
They were worth it, side note– how to make PROTEIN BALLS: microwave 1c PB, 1/2c honey, 1/2c brown sugar for 1:30, stir in 1C oatmeal, raisins, 1/2c choco chips, 1 serving protein powder, and 1c rice/crunchy cereal, roll into balls, refrigerate or each on the spot- as I did. I made this for dinner and had delicious pickled cabbage (not an oxymoron) on the side.
Well this has been a circumlocutious route– point of the post– I’m going to try to practice being thankful for the tiny things that go right every day, or at least notice when things go right, and not just when menial things go wrong. The people I know who do this are able to shake off the petty and spread joy with every breath. #goals
