One Hundred Thousand Gifts?

With 365 days in a year, I realized recently that one thousand gifts wasn't nearly enough. Kneeling beside my bed at night, I often recount the blessings, or "gifts," of that day and thank God for each one knowing that He was the Giver. That got me thinking... If we can recall only one gift each night to be thankful for and we do that for fifty years, we will amass a Gratitude List totaling 18,250 gifts. Between five and six gifts each night pushes us to 100,000. Does that shock you as much as it does me? On any average day, it's easy to list numerous blessings if we're willing to admit that God is in the small stuff. Numerous green lights on the way to work. A fresh pot of coffee. Healthy parents and children. A text or email from someone we love. The list goes on and on.

Surprisingly, we can even find blessings in the midst of daily trials and outright crises. I should know. I'm walking through too many of them right now. Some days I feel like pulling the sheet over my head and declaring a personal strike. Let someone else handle the hard decisions and stress. Despite my doubt, though, God shows up and does wonderful things when I keep putting one foot in front of the other, and I am grateful.

I laughed one day as I repeated aloud to God, "I love You. Thank You," and wondered if He ever got tired of hearing me say it. Then I thought, "Who could possibly get tired of being told they are loved and appreciated?" I just smiled and continued to thank Him because I couldn't seem to stop. My heart was overflowing with gratitude and I had to express it. If you've never thanked God out loud, I dare you to start. You'll be blessed.

What gifts is God giving you each day?How fast is your Gratitude List growing? I'm not going to tell you my exact age, but let's just say my list is starting to look like a collection of old-fashioned encyclopedias!