One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Spread the love

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp

One Thousand Gifts by Ann VoskampStars: ****

Zondervan (2010)
Christian Life/Spiritual Growth
237 pages

This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: Just like you, Ann Voskamp hungers to live her one life well. Forget the bucket lists that have us escaping our everyday lives for exotic experiences. ‘How,’ Ann wondered, ‘do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long–and sometimes even dark? How is God even here?’ In One Thousand Gifts, Ann invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative spiritual discipline of chronicling God’s gifts. It’s only in this expressing of gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we’ve always wanted…a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others. We come to feel and know the impossible right down in our bones: we are wildly loved–by God. Let Ann’s beautiful, heart-aching stories of the everyday give you a way of seeing that opens your eyes to ordinary amazing grace, a way of being present to God that makes you deeply happy, and a way of living that is finally fully alive. Come live the best dare of all!

One Thousand Gifts

I had been hearing great things about this book for years since it came out so I picked up a copy a year or two ago when I found it cheap. I just now got around to reading it for the shortathon challenge (reading short books). Although 237 doesn’t seem all that short, the book is small so it really wasn’t all that long.

What did I love? The message. We all know it’s important to be thankful for what we have instead of dwelling on what we don’t have, especially if you follow the Bible. Ann however digs deep into that idea and shares proof from the Bible of why it’s so important. I really loved this message and as she shares some of her one thousand gifts I’m humbled to start being more thankful for the little things.

What didn’t I love? The flowy, descriptive language. For some people, this will be a positive but for me it’s a negative. I like to get straight to the point and be done with it. Although the book is over 200 pages, most of it is very descriptive and that’s just not what I like.

An example so you can see what I mean:

“Time is a relentless river. It rages on, a respecter of no one. And this, this is the only way to slow time. When I fully enter time’s swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here. I can slow the torrent by being all here. I only live the full life when I live fully in the moment. And when I’m always looking for the next glimpse of glory, I slow and enter.” – pg 68

That’s actually less flowy and descriptive than some other parts. I’d rather the book say the simple point that by slowing down and savouring the current moment, time seems to slow down and I can live life more fully.

If the book had been less flowy, it would have gotten 5 stars because the message is just really good and amazing.

Buy One Thousand Gifts from Amazon.com and Help Support the Blog

About Kathleen

I've been a nonfiction lover for as long as I can remember. I love children's nonfiction as well and love to share my knowledge and the books I gained them from, with the world. I wish more people would give nonfiction a chance.