The book “One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Life Fully Right Where You Are,” and its website onethoushandgifts.com has it backwards.

 

Amy Voskamp’s book recounts her experience journaling one thousand gifts she has received.  The gifts ranger from the significant to the trivial, from the unique to the pedestrian.  “Writing down 1000 gifts woke me up to really living,” she says in a press release for the launch of onethousandgifts.com.  “I named daily blessings, literally counting everyday gifts–all the way up to one thousand–and along the way changed my life.”  The release continues: “This fresh, hear-wrenching book unveils the long forgotten wonder that through the imitation of Christ’s thankfulness, we too can experience a life of joy.”

 

I don’t know what “the imitation of Christ’s thankfulness” means.  Christ isn’t a model of thankfulness; He is a model of giving.  The gospels do not center around Jesus saying “Thank you” to people for the gifts, but rather center around Jesus blessing others through His gifts.  He doesn’t model a cheerful receiver; He models a cheerful giver.

 

I hope Voskamp’s next journaling project will list the one thousand gifts she has given others.