between beginning and end…
I might have walked straight by. In fact I did. I saw it – this tiny flower no bigger than my thumbnail – and I kept walking.
And then I stopped. Time. There was time. No need to hurry.
And I went back. I went back to see it – really see it. To see this tiny gift of God’s love.
Eucharisteo. Grace. Thanksgiving. Joy.1
I waited. I thought I might be late, but I waited.
Waited in a line for the bus that would take me to work.
And as I waited I noticed the clouds. Long rows of white woolliness tracking slowly across the soft blue expanse.
I saw their shape and watched them move, gently carried.
As the bus pulled up I realised that these moments had been transformed from waiting to watching wonder.
And my soul was at rest.
Image sourced here.
The bus carried me home from work as I began to read One Thousand Gifts, feeling the beat of Ann Voskamp’s heart bared upon the page. A heart hungering for more, longing to live fully. Perhaps we have more in common than our first name.
As she shares her discovery, it becomes mine too.
“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them…” (Luke 22:19)
He “gave thanks” is eucharisteo in the original Greek. It carries in it the words for grace and joy – charis and chara.
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?
…
Charis. Grace.
Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving.
Chara. Joy.Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
And I wonder too. Grace, thanksgiving, joy. And I wonder at her phrase … “is it that simple?”
I know that question. It echoes my own. The pages of my journal bear witness: “If a heart is full of love, can there be any room left for fear? Could it really be that simple?”
Perhaps the two are intertwined. Perhaps there is an invitation here.
At home, the summer evening light is wine-red in the leaves.
Eucharisteo.
I give you thanks Lord.
One of the things you quickly discover if you’ve ever used a camera, is the importance of focus.
What you focus on affects what you see.
Inadvertently focusing on the wrong part of a scene may produce very disappointing results, especially if there’s no opportunity to try again.
This is also true of life.
Whatever we focus on, that’s what we see. Sometimes to the exclusion of all else. If we only focus on the things that are going wrong, on what we lack, on mistakes, on imperfections, on irritations, and on defeat – that’s what we see. If what we focus on is negative, what we see is negative. And soon enough what we think, feel and do, will also be negative.
But if we focus on what’s good, on the people we love, on what we have, on the beauty of life, on simple pleasures, on opportunities to take, on lessons learned, on victories won – then that’s what we see.
And these are the things that make us smile, make us laugh, make us wonder, make us give thanks. Even the challenges of life may look different when we start to focus on what’s positive.
…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
These are the things worthy of our attention.
One of the simple pleasures in life is watching the face of a person you love open a gift you’ve given them. The joy that lights up their face when you’ve chosen well is a gift of its own.
I love that moment. I think God does too.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17
Image courtesy of scottchan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Flourish! 