In Chapter 3 of One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp offers her definition of joy: “Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy.” Put another way, it’s impossible to give something you’re holding onto […]
Toward the end of Chapter 3 of One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp remarks that sometimes her quest to list 1,000 things for which she is thankful seems quite juvenile. In the midst of mundane existence, is making that list merely a ridiculous experiment? The truth is, Ann explains, that learning requires practice- and at […]
Ann Voskamp’s (One Thousand Gifts) husband is a pig farmer in Ontario, Canada. In Chapter 3 Ann tells of the time her husband was having trouble with his sows delivering stillborn litters or testing positive for pregnancy when they weren’t pregnant at all. Despite various tests and a consultation with the veterinarian, no solution was […]
As author Ann Voskamp begins her list of 100o things she loves in Chapter 3 of One Thousand Gifts, she describes 5 characteristics of her endeavor: 1. Writing the list makes her feel happy- all day. She describes her feeling as a “running stream of consciousness, river I drink from and am quenched in, a […]
In Chapter 3 (“First Flight”) of One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp recounts her first step toward a life of gratitude. It’s July, and Ann is cutting cucmber slices in a friend’s kitchen in preparation for a barbecue. Out of the blue, Ann’s friend remarks that Ann has changed. Ann had thought that her change […]
Toward the end of Chapter 2 of One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp likens the grace, thanksgiving and joy of eucharisteo to a constellation in the night sky. Reaching for those stars is so very hard. Is there, Ann asks, an easier way to a fulfilling life? The author finds her answer in a New […]
In Chapter 2 (“A Word to Live . . . and Die By”) of One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp admits that for many years of mornings she woke up wanting to die. Memories of her sister’s accidental death, her “no” to God, and her mother’s stay in a psychiatric hospital skewed Ann’s world view. […]
At the conclusion of Chapter 1 (“An Emptier, Fuller Life”) of One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp hypothesizes that the devastating adversities that rip holes into our world and faith might in fact be places for us to see through to God. Ann wonders: ” . . . if the rent in the canvas of […]
Ann Voskamp’s (One Thousand Gifts) brother-in-law John, like her husband, is a farmer. The lessons he’s learned on the job trickle down to other areas of his life as well. Although John’s words specifically reference farming, they have a much broader application: “Farmers, we think we control so much, do so much right to make […]
Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts, discusses the day her entire family “snapped shut to grace” in Chapter 1. Ann, whose name means “full of grace”, was only 4 years old at the time. Ann vividly remembers her younger sister toddling into the farm lane, wandering after a cat. The delivery truck driver never saw her. […]
Author Bill Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. Bill’s first whisper came to him while in 2nd grade, after listening to his teacher read the Old Testament account of Samuel and Eli(1 Samuel 3). His teacher then gave him a poem entitled “Samuel”, in which […]
Continuing his discussion of Philippians 2, author and pastor Bill Hybels (The Power of a Whisper) paraphrases the theme of that chapter this way: “Don’t be clutchers. Instead, become relinquishers.” Left to our own devices, the author states, we are “clutchers”, tenaciously holding on to our life’s achievements and possessions. In contrast, sacrificial obedience to […]