Burtis Summer Challenge 2012...I Dare You To Join Us

So yesterday I promised to share with you our family challenge for this year.  Let me back up a little.

I read a book last Spring that I loved.  It was a book about gratitude and the pursuit of God.  The author took a dare from a friend to make a list.  I started my own list in May 2011.  For a year, I've been naming on paper things that I love, things that make me smile, that bring joy.  Things that I am thankful to God for.  This individual naming of blessings has changed my life.  I didn't realize the depth of change until right around the year anniversary of first reading it.  Fear and thanksgiving can't abide together.  Neither can complaining and giving thanks.  Worry and gratitude duke it out until one wins.  Gratitude is winning.  The sheer joy of giving thanks has decreased the influence of fear, complaining, worry and so much more from my life.

The last six months have brought more change to our family than I can remember in a concentrated period of time.  We moved from our home of fourteen years and our church of seventeen.  We left behind family and close friends.  We moved our kids, two of which are in their last years of high school.  We've left our comfortable, somewhat predictable but happy ministries.  Our lives have reeked of change.  I've wondered over the past few months why all this change has been a joy to me.  Why have I not been fearful, complaining or worried?

I believe it has to do with my list which is now numbering over 6,000 items.  Has to be. Every morning I begin my quiet time adding to the list in my journal.  "Is there any other way to enter His courts but with thanksgiving?" (Psalm 100:4)*  I'm not necessarily talking just about deep, spiritual things but also the  simple things.  Like seeing my children get along, a new colorful flower springing up in my yard, rain boots, when a friend thinks of me out of the blue, how my husband looks at me across a crowded room. When a heart is grateful for so many little things, its trust in God grows to a place that is less penetrable to the discouraging tactics of the enemy.  Living proof, right here.  Surely this is why there are so many verses imploring us to give thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thess. 5:18,  Eph. 5:20) When we give thanks, we communicate to God that we trust Him.

All this giving thanks takes practice. "Sweeping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving over everything in my life leaves me deeply thankful for very few things in my life." * That doesn't change a life.  No, the repetition and daily practice is what grows deep roots of trust in our heavenly Father.  And changes us. Strengthens our faith.  Deepens our commitment and intimacy with Him. "The daily practice of the discipline of gratitude is the way to daily practice the delight of God."*   Sign me up!

Can you see where I'm going with this?  The other night I bought each of my children a journal and encouraged them to start their own list. To just write down 3 things a day.  Noticing all the ways God is blessing and loving them.  I am praying to see the same sorts of fruit in their lives as they become more aware of how God is in the big and the little stuff.

"What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us - He knows every detail of each of our individual lives."**  Maybe we should spend a season not just looking for the BIG things we want God to do for us, but rather spend some time noticing the little and enjoying that amazing intimacy that He wants with us.  I just LOVE that!

"If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives - not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying."**

Once you get started, you'll see how much fun it is.  But to be honest, the harder part is to give thanks for the things we don't want.  I am forever reminding myself to add those to the list too.  Eventually we realize that this list we have created is actually a list of all the ways God loves US.  By the time I finished the book, I knew I wanted a list of my own. So now that you've read this far, I'm throwing down the dare to you - name all the ways God loves you!   I hope you'll create your own list and this summer will be the beginning of  a spiritual benchmark in your life where fruit which lasts forever will be harvested....and continue to grow in every season.

Please send me a message if you're "in".  We can share our thanks together.  So fun!

*One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
**My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers