Learning the Language of Thankfulness /// Joy List

(Photo Credit: Mama)

             Last summer I started to write what I called a joy list. It was just a simple list of things that I was thankful for and brought me joy. Every day I would add 27 things to my Joy List, as that is how many lines my notebook had per page. Some days were easier than others and some days I would forget to add, but over the months my list grew.  And it became easier to find things for which I gave thanks and found much joy. Now I am on to my second notebook, as my first on has been finished!

Reading over my first Joy List notebook a few days ago, some of the things I had written surprised me bit. The things I found joy in and had written down had deepness or certain dimension I had not realized at the time, but reading back I saw it.

169. The chance to love more deeply through hurt

248. Flowers of sunshine picked to brighten a dark day

323. A brother who cares, even when he pretends not to

326. Hours spent washing dishes with people much loved

405. The questions of the blonde little boy, curious

Then a few weeks ago I read Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts. I was stunned. For those who have not read the book, it is about the author’s journey of discovering who God really is through keeping a thankfulness list. So many of the things Ann wrote struck a chord with my heart, gave me the words I couldn't find, food for thought, and gave a me broadened view of God.

          I had been beginning to see what Ann saw. That living a life of true thankfulness leads us to the grace and joy of God. When our hearts sing genuine thanks even in the darkest and hardest moments of life, that is when we experience the joy of our King.

If we learn to give thanks for the most mundane things in life as well as the extraordinary we will begin to see how every moment is a gift. Every moment is a gift. Even if our lives at times seem unimportant or dreadfully mundane, if seen through the filter of thankfulness they will lead to grace and joy. We will see our lives the way God intends for us to see them, a gift from Him.

When we give thanks through our tears, pain, and loneliness, grace will come. The moment we start to give thanks for the ugly, trusting that God is good and is using that ugly for his good, we realize that all of life is all good, even the ugly. We know not why we must go through the ugly, only that we are in the hands of Christ. What better place to be? In the pierced hands of the man who died loving us, even when we did not love Him back, what can be wrong? All is good, all is a gift, and all is joy when you are a child of God!

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4 (ESV)

I had unknowingly begun the learning of living thankfulness before I even knew of its existence. Through the simple task of writing down joy, my soul had been getting ever closer to God. Giving thanks was direst communion with God. How can a soul not grow stronger, closer to Him during direct communion?

I am still and will forever be a student of Christ, learning how to give thanks in everything, to search out His gifts, and to count it all as joy. But every day it becomes easier to see the gifts. Seeing starts to become instinctive, no longer forced. A hum of wind, a bit of chipped paint, or a carrot floating in soup: things gone unnoticed before, now bring forth thankfulness which in turn bring forth grace and joy.

We should all learn to speak this language of thankfulness, so let us learn together. Every so often I will write a Joy List post, in which I will share some bits of joy from my list and blessing I have known. Join me in this journey of living a life of thankfulness.

<3 Emma