“One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Vosjamp is the name of the book that my dear friend Liz just gave me. Our family has recently suffered a loss, a great and unexpected loss, and the writings of authors like Lysa Terkeurst and Ann VosKamp have brought real hope and comfort.  The foundation for their words come from the Bible itself, so it only makes sense that hope seeps out from the pages. Lysa Terkeurst’s “It’s Not Supposed to be This Way” (a gift from Mark) has been my companion each evening; providing hope and strength.

Here is a paragraph from chapter five of “One Thousand Gifts” : “All God makes is good. Can it be that, that which seems to oppose the will of God is used of Him to accomplish the will of God? That which seems evil only seems so because of perspective, the way the eyes see the shadows. Above the clouds, light never stops shining.“

The theme of “One Thousand Gifts” is EURCHARISTEO, living in a state of gratitude, of thankfulness, at all times. Ann Voskamp points to the fact that eucharisteo preceeds every miracle in the Bible. She challenges us that by expressing gratitude, even in our darkest of days, we can see God in the midst of “it all”. Looking through the lens of God’s Word, we can see the thread of His hands working, weaving, changing, healing.

How can we as parents/grandparents model eucharisteo for our children? I think the simple answer is by teaching them and modeling for them how to live in a state of thankfulness. When we wake up our littles, we can give thanks for yet another day together. On hectic drives to school or activities, we can express thanks to God for the sunshine or our teachers or the energetic coach who will be guiding the practice. On shopping trips with list of supplies, we can express out loud how thankful we are that mommy and daddy can provide the needed supplies (and maybe slip in some giving ideas here to help those who can’t). At the end of a busy day, we can say a prayer of thanks at the dinner table as a family. And, in the evening, we can read books that model gratitude before leading our littles in prayers.

ReadBrightly.com has compiled a list of 17 books that “Show Kids What it Means to be Thankful” by Dena McMurdie. There are some treasures here to be used as we “BOOK TIME WITH OUR KIDS”.

This season has been the hardest of my life, and yet, I do see how God is using this period of grief in beautiful ways. I see glimpses of a lovely tapestry, with hope and newness. I am in a period of grief, this is the winter I must walk through to experience healing. I am allowing God to take this and create a different lens, a new perspective, in this unexpected stage of life.

When trying to explain a change of perspective to our kids, we can use Ann VosKamp’s realization that above the clouds, light never stops shining.. There’s so much that we can pull from, learn from, and teach from that one statement! 

ELA teachers, that’s what I call a writing prompt. 

Or Mom and Dad, maybe it’s just a great God prompt. 

Thank you for reading! Please share and subscribe for ideas on how we can BOOK TIME WITH OUR KIDS at NinaWheeling.com!