Life is dessert – “one thousand gifts”

These paragraphs from one thousand gifts show you how ordinary moments deserve your full attention. “Life is dessert . . . don’t wolf it down.”

An important message is in this beautifully told story by Ann Voskamp. She still has me counting . . . # 1196 + . You, too?

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Excerpt from one thousand gifts

When did I stop thinking life was dessert?

I push back from the table. Push away from regrets. They need something to drink. I clatter out the stainless steel glasses. Pour out the cold milk and think of the strangers walking briskly, blithely along to Emmaus, oblivious to the God-skin before their eyes. Only in the slowing, the sitting down at the table, when His hands held the bread and the thanks fell from His tongue, do the open-eyed, the wide-eyed, see the Face they face (Luke 24:13-35). The fast have spiritually slow hearts.

I carry the cups back to the table.

My drained, empty body has stopped and my soul has caught up and if I give thanks here, Whom might I recognize? I pass two cups down to the end of the table. It takes a full twenty minutes after your stomach is full for your brain to register satiation. How long does it take your soul to realize that your life is full? The slower the living, the greater the sense of fullness and satisfaction. The body and soul can synchronize. This moment I enter. …and I don’t reach forward and I don’t reach back and I weigh the moment down with full attention here.

Life is dessert — too brief to hurry. You don’t wolf it down.
– Ann Voskamp

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My review here of one thousand gifts.

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4 thoughts on “Life is dessert – “one thousand gifts”

  1. Dianna

    One of my all time favorite books! And yes, I’m still counting as well. I’m learning…slowly at times…that the slower I live the fuller my life is. Thank you for choosing such a special excerpt from Ann’s book! Love you! You’ve been numbered among my blessings many times over, Friend!

  2. Linda@Creekside

    Good Morning, Lisa …
    Yep, Ann Voskamp has been a gamechanger in my life. The whole call to gratitude turned things upside down for me, in subtle yet substantial ways. It’s become a thread in my life that never fails to pull me back to the One from whom all blessings flow, and gives me a life perspective that’s healthy and sane. This is one of those must-reads!

  3. Dave Arnold

    I know that book is hugely influential (although I haven’t read it). But I enjoyed the quote you shared. It’s incredible how God can use words (books, articles, blogs), to change our lives.

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