One Thousand Gifts, Chapter 7

On to Chapter 7 . . .

I will be honest and say that the past two chapters have not been my favorite throughout the book. I still liked them, but they seemed to drag a bit. I did pull some good words this week that I wanted to share with you.

The chapter revolves around an incident with her son. He throws a piece of toast at his brother, and Ann is angry. That is a normal response for a parent when their children fight. The entire chapter is her thought process on how to handle the situation, and how to help her son work through his anger and resentment.

On page 128 she says, "I have to learn how to see, to look through to the Largenes, behind all the smallness."

I love the simpleness yet depth of that statement. The Largeness is God, and He is behind everything. I have heard people say that God doesn't care about the minutia, but I beg to differ. God is in it all. We need to recognize that in every single aspect of our days.

To go along with that statement, I liked what she said on page 135. "We don't have to change what we see. Only the way we see it." True that, Ann, true that. I want to change the "way" I see things. What an impact that would have on my day to day.

Lastly, on page 136 she says, "Feel thanks and it is absolutely impossible to feel angry. We can only experience one emotion at a time. And we get to choose - which emotion do we want to feel?"

I want to feel joy. I want to feel thankful. I want to feel God . . . all the time and in everything.

The list goes on . . .
56. Mamas' night out
57. Party planning
58. Sleeping in (after a 7 am nursing session)
59. Catching up with old friends
60. Good food on our table
61. Time at home
62. Sushi
63. Family hugs
64. Fun in the bath
65. The walking baby's first shoes
66. The almost one year old's big boy car seat (front-facing)
67. Four year old conversations in the car
68. A fixed air conditioning unit (thanks, Tony:)
69. The Dollar Store full of Elmo wrapping paper
70. Anticipation of guests