Thanksgiving = Thanksliving

I've had a little extra time on my hands this week, so I've been reading.
I'm almost finished with "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I've been reading it for months now, but as a mom finishing a book is near impossible. Last night as I was reading I was so touched. The words jumped right off the page and into my heart. My perspective was changed. I started to see things a different way. It was like a light flickered on and all of the sudden thanksgiving had a whole new meaning.

Ann writes:
"Eucharisteo means "to give thanks," and give is a verb, something that we do. God calls me to do thanks. To give the thanks away. That thanks-giving might literally become thanks-living. That our lives become the very blessings we have received.
I am blessed. I can bless. Imagine! I could let Him make me the gift!
I could be the joy!"

"Scratching a stubborn pot furiously with a wire scrubby, I remember it again, what I once read of liturgy. That liturgy had its roots in the Greek word leitourgia, meaning "public work" or "public servant." The meaning! This life of washing dishes, of domestic routine, it can be something wholly different. This life of rote work, it is itself public work, a public serving- the mundane work can become the living liturgy of the Last Supper. I could become the blessing, live the liturgy! I rinse pots and sing it softly, "This is my song of thanks to You..."

"When the laundry is for the dozen arms of children or the dozen legs, it's true, I think I'm due some appreciation. So comes a storm of trouble and lightening strikes joy. But when Christ is at the center, when dishes, laundry, work is my song of praise to Him, joy rains. Passionately serving Christ alone makes us the loving servant to all. When the eyes of the heart focus on God, and the hands on always washing the feet of Jesus alone- the bones, they sing joy, and the work returns to it's purest state: eucharisteo. The work becomes worship, a liturgy of thankfulness."

"'The work we do is only our love for Jesus in action,' writes Mother Teresa. 'If we pray the work...if we do it to Jesus, if we do it for Jesus, if we do it with Jesus... that's what makes us content.'
That is what makes us content- the contented, deep joy is always in the touching of Christ- in whatever skin He comes to us in."

"It's the astonishing truth that while I serve Christ, it is He who serves me. Jesus Christ still lives with a towel around His waist, bent in service to His people...in service to me, as I serve, that I need never serve in my own strength."

I often find myself looking at that long list of things piling up each day. Things I would rather ignore. Things I honestly wish I didn't have to do. Things that often times I let stress me out.
It all comes back to thanksgiving.
Thank you, Jesus, that I am able, able to do things- to work, to take care of children, to wash dishes, to scrub the floors, to fold the laundry.
All these mundane tasks that I am faced with each day don't have to be mundane. Instead, how exciting to think about how the Lord is using me to bless my family? He is using my hands to work- to bless.
I am a gift. What an amazing perspective on life. How could I not be filled with joy knowing that each day when I feel weary from all the work, I spent the day blessing- blessing those I love the most?
I want my work to be worship. I want my heart to be filled with joy. I want to be thankful.

What an wonderful picture to imagine- Jesus serving me, while I serve others. He has blessed me to be a blessing. He has served me and called me to serve. I not only want to bless and serve my family, but it  is my true heart's desire to bless and serve others- everyone I come in contact with.
Lord, continue to teach me to be a blessing. Show me how to truly serve.

If you haven't read this book, you should. It will change your life. Seriously. This has been one of my favorite books that I've ever read. It has completely changed my perspective. When times get tough, when I feel weary, when I just want the day to be over, I'm learning to start thanking Jesus. It's amazing how quickly thanksgiving can change your attitude. It's amazing how quickly thanksgiving cultivates joy.