Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 281
October 31, 2012
What You Need to Fly {New One Thousand Gifts Journal}
{Welcome! If you are reading in a reader or via email — the tea’s on just for you to come on over and see the newly painted, organized and polished blog. A quiet grace place for us to settle into Father — and fly.}
He’d opened the back door and carried her in, what he’d found fallen.
Levi, that third born son, hands dirty from dirt and earth and believing in seeds and small things, he’d kneeled in the kitchen with her white feathery quake, kneeled like praying, and he’d showed me how.
How to lace my hands around her at the heart, around that live bird trembling.
And I had held her, hardly held her, and the welcome was in the quiet we gave her, the cupping that said nothing but held.
“What do you say to a bird?”
Shalom, she’s bent and whispers it, one of her tendrils touching my cheek.
What do you say to the fledgling and caged, to the heart that stutters and pounds and hurts? What do you say to the fallen who can’t find the sky?
I know this. The warmth of the child’s breath falls on me and the son’s palms, it touches mine, and we are all close and the brevity of time encircles and regrets can clip at the edges of things meant to fly. Frittered away days can feel like this tether to dark.
“Say something to her, Mama. She is scared.” Shalom’s lips graze my ear.
I can feel the bird, her faint angst large and warm in between my hands.
This thrum, it is mine, and we beat together: All worry is a desperate wanting of my own way.
And I tell her, tell her with my palms, with this enfolding and inviting in and holy hush:
That perfection that you want, it will be the pin through you, right to the wall, right to the ground, and you’ll never know more.
Perfectionism is the prison that will bar you from unfolding into the wide open full life and release. And for all your work, you will flail and you will thrash and you will exhaust, and a cold wind will still blow straight down the nape of your neck –
that you are nothing but a pitiful creature who can’t get it all perfectly right.
And in your spent helplessness — it comes, like a stillness — this saving hopefulness.
Hear it, brave-beating heaving heart?
You don’t need higher self-esteem. You need greater self-grace.
God’s already offered you all of His grace.
I hold a bird in hand and that is all there ever would be.
Grace is all there is to live in and move and have your being and there is nothing else apart from it — grace the very power of God.
Grace is what fills your lungs and fills your veins; grace is the sleek pin that runs up through everything like spine shaft and upon which everything turns and holds, and grace gave us saving nails and grace gave us salvation freedom and grace gives us certain wings.
Shalom touches it’s pounding breast.
“Quiet. It’s quiet.”
And I nod, awed.
Only the pounding, beating fools are fooled:
Grace is not soft or trite — Grace is what saves and grace is what transforms. Grace isn’t the weakness of a Christian — grace is the completeness of a Christian. Grace isn’t ever a paltry thing — Grace is always the very power of God.
The power of God to save and to stand, to give and forgive, to breathe and believe, to laugh and love and wring the last little bit of living out of all the days under the sky. Grace is what we need more than very air or water; grace is what is necessary for life: it’s His very grace that needs to be sufficient today, it is His very grace that makes today sustainable.
It’s there in my hands — soft feathers that could take to the sun and this is paradox. Grace never negates obedience. Grace always initiates obedience.
And it’s something inside of me that unlatches, unlaces, and the bones of the fragile and frail, they open into wide winged things.
“What did you say to her, Mama?”
Shalom smiles…
“Just — “
I only murmured grace — what all that soar know.
If you want to go deeper into joy…
If you want new, uncaging grace…
If you want to feel the opening of God’s fingers and hear the words Fly.
These sixty fresh and releasing devotional reflections, each one like a singular tree, invite you to take wing into a forest of graces.
Glimpses of graces that will lead you into your own lifestyle of Christ-focus and communion.
Into how your desperate need of Him every moment — is wildly met with His extravagant love for you.
One Thousand Gifts Devotional: Reflections on Finding Everyday Graces. 60 Days of Devotional Reflections. 60 Days to Joy. Practical. Profound. Pen-worthy: includes the only numbered 1000 gifts journal, space for you from #1-#1000, to begin the radical habit of thanking God for your own one thousand gifts.
The endless grace of our overflowing God, it’s meant to be experienced directly. The most important thing is simply to begin.
Pick up a pen and this new devotional journal for you or a friend — and witness life change. God’s just waiting to bless with the greatest gift of all—more and more of Himself….
Take the dare to fully live!
For you, with 60 Devotionals and space for your own 1000 gifts:
One Thousand Gifts Devotional: Reflections on Finding Everyday Graces.
Click here to download the FREE JESSE TREE Advent Family Devotional {please give it a few moments to download… thank you for grace!}
October 30, 2012
3 lines that are lifelines in any storm
And on the morning after the brunt of the hurricane, it comes down to just three.
Those three that Jonathan Edwards said one had to know about real Christian joy, 
that no wind should ever tear away from the knowing.
And I look out the kitchen window at the corn still standing and I take and make the old preacher’s words real simple and I murmur it quiet, like a song, like a refrain to sing straight into wind:
Your griefs will turn out for your ultimate good.
Your great things can never be grabbed away from you.
The Greatest is still to come.
And the wind keeps blowing, and I keep singing these three lines like a lifeline, and what else is there always but these?
The corn, it keeps standing straight sure.
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And we’re quietly excited to rearrange the furniture for you in this corner of the internet tonight to make right here a peace refuge for you — and to share something special we’ve been praying over just for you. Lord willing, tomorrow! We’ll have a pot of tea on… the kettle song-whistling just these three lines…This is Day 30 of the whole Crazy Joy series — and coming tomorrow — an invitation to truly fly!
Click here to download the FREE JESSE TREE Advent Family Devotional {please give it a few moments to download… thank you for grace!}
Links for 2012-10-29 [del.icio.us]
@TIME ... "parental involvement... has a more powerful influence on students’ academic performance than anything about the school the students attend." Excellent parent read.
Free C.S.Lewis Copywork for the kids
... perfect for penmanship! and the heart...
People Who Exercise Have Larger Brains Later in Life
@ The Atlantic.."The men and women who exercised had less brain shrinkage and fewer structural signs of cognitive decline."
Three Words to add to "I love you"
@ It all started in Ethiopia ... This is absolutely beautiful. Needful.
Beautiful Feet
@We are THAT Family ... have you read this story of hope? {And we can be part of it!!}
Are you there yet?
@ Holley Gerth.... "We put a lot of pressure on ourselves when we try to find heaven on earth." If you ever would just like to just arrive...
Hurricane Sandy set to hit Canada Monday night
@ National Post ... headed right our way. Hunkering down.
Thoughts on Home & The Creatives Who’ve Helped Me
@ the nester.... this woman? well... this woman is brilliant, I think. And her thoughts on home have shaped ours. And her giveaway today? Pure loveliness.
October 29, 2012
How to Prepare for Storms
Storm coming.
The geese fly, this black arrow renting the sky before the rain and wind battle in.
And we get the pumpkins and squash in, have the bread and applesauce out in the kitchen, and it’s always this –
how do you live through storms?
And it’s there on the counter, that thanking journal – that’s slowly etching peace right down into the hard rind of my heart.
And the words of that old English preacher
still echoing on, right into everything bearing down:
“If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness
and all perfection, he must tell you to
make a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything
that happens to you.
It is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you,
if you thank and praise God for it,
you turn it into a blessing.
If you could work miracles,
therefore, you could not do more for yourself
than by this thankful spirit.
It heals and turns all that it touches into happiness.”
Gusts from the southeast blow leaves off the maples, the sky turning dark, the pain turning toward thanks, and it’s stilling, this cutting bread at the table.
This picking up a pen and giving thanks, gift upon gift.
The gifts only have meaning in that they trace the outline of God’s heart, the calm eye of any storm.
The problems of hard times are answered in the presence of Himself: God is with us. The wise stand in wind and pray not so much for the danger to pass but for the fear to flee.
And it comes — the rain there on the pane, the thanks for grace there on the lips, the working of miracles.
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:
:
and counting more of the One Thousand Gifts
that never end… thanks for Christ who does it all, gives it all, #4512 – #4521:
bread…. hot water…. home from here…. hunkering down with family…. blankets and pillow and quiet…. the corn leaves blowing in wind out the window….. #15 on NYTimes: a revolution of giving thanks and preparing for storms, the working of miracles in us….. squash soup…. raindrops falling now…. candles on the table already.
Day 29: Catch the whole 31 Days to Crazy Joy series right here
Like some crazy joy? (Anyone not want more joy?) Tap in your email to not miss a day of
your guidebook to 31 Days to Crazy Joy
October 27, 2012
Links for 2012-10-26 [del.icio.us]
@ Sally Clarkson... "Having made my peace (mostly) with the reality that giving my children time is a part of serving them, I was able to relax and open myself to the joys of being with them." Soul encouragement...
October 26, 2012
Links for 2012-10-25 [del.icio.us]
Jessie's Grandpa is not employed, Grandma is sometimes. He's been waiting for a sponsor for 267 days. And TODAY is his birthday--5 years old. Will you be his gift and sponsor him?
October 25, 2012
How Do You Find Joy? {One Thousand Gifts Small Group DVD Study}
Come to the farm?
Would you?
Remember this — when things were afoot on the farm and my knees wouldn’t stop knocking and I whispered, Please pray? — and you did?
It’s ready now! And it was all our gift for you!
We prayed hard and we thought of the weary mama at the sink and the man who keeps working hard and rarely picks up a book, thought of the circle of friends who want to go deep with Jesus and find real joy together, and the community of neighbors who might gather around a project of counting 1000 Gifts and change their whole street —
And we said God and His glory is worth it and you are worth it and by His grace, we climbed high over fears…. and said yes.
We thought of you — and prayed God could somehow use the weak and broken anyway to share this message that has changed our lives — and we threw open the door for you.
Gather up some friends and come? It might just change everything….
Have 2 minutes? The One Thousand Gifts Small Group DVD Trailer:
David Nevue, who plays the piano for us here in this quiet space, he accompanies us through the DVD study, so, please, it’d be a grace, pull up a chair?
And I’ll make bread right here in the kitchen …. and the kids will jump on the trampoline…
And we’ll open God’s Word and wander through the cemetery and kneel at Aimee’s and ask the hard questions … and I pray God leads us deeper into authentic, life-giving joy in Him.
Have a hot cup of tea? One Thousand Gifts Small Group DVD First Complete Session {22 minutes}:
{RSS Readers? Might you click here to view the farm videos in post…}
If you grin and say sure, why not? – you’d like to come too — the One Thousand Gifts: 5 Sesssion DVD Study and Participant’s Study Guide 
will make its way to your door in just a couple of weeks — just before the holidays —- might make a life-changing gift?
Or the perfect way to start off the New Year with a group of people you love?
The One Thousand Gifts: a Small Group DVD Study
Each session invites participants to explore further the transformative spiritual discipline of chronicling gifts and provides a Scripture, prayer, and between-session activities inviting you to go deeper into the concept of grace explored in the 57 week New York Times Bestseller, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
and on her daily blog.
“How do we find joy,” Ann Voskamp wondered, “in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties?” When your days are filled with the mundane, disappointment, or even darkness, how can you break the bondage of self-hatred and fear that has white-knuckle control on your life and instead embrace the everyday blessings that will immerse you in Christ’s fullness? How can you live your life with a heart overflowing with delight?
In the One Thousand Gifts: DVD Study
Embark on this personal, honest and fresh exploration of what it means to be deeply fulfilled, wholly happy, and finally fully alive.
Sessions include:
Attitude of Gratitude
Grace in the Moment
All is Grace
Trust: The Bridge to Joy
Empty to Fill
: : :
Gather some friends together and unwrap this joy of the Lord?
I’m smiling big and trusting Jesus and flinging the front door wide open –
Y’all are warmly invited to come to the farm: One Thousand Gifts: a Small Group DVD Study
Day 25: Catch the whole 31 Days to Crazy Joy series right here
Like some crazy joy? (Anyone not want more joy?) Tap in your email to not miss a day of
your guidebook to 31 Days to Crazy Joy
Click here to download the FREE JESSE TREE Advent Family Devotional {please give it a few moments to download… thank you for grace!}
How Do You Find Joy? { One Thousand Gifts Small Group DVD Study }
Come to the farm?
Would you?
Remember this — when things were afoot on the farm and my knees wouldn’t stop knocking and I whispered, Please pray? — and you did?
It’s ready now! And it was all our gift for you!
We prayed hard and we thought of the weary mama at the sink and the man who keeps working hard and rarely picks up a book, thought of the circle of friends who want to go deep with Jesus and find real joy together, and the community of neighbors who might gather around a project of counting 1000 Gifts and change their whole street —
And we said God and His glory is worth it and you are worth it and by His grace, we climbed high over fears…. and said yes.
We thought of you — and prayed God could somehow use the weak and broken anyway to share this message that has changed our lives — and we threw open the door for you.
Gather up some friends and come? It might just change everything….
Have 2 minutes? The One Thousand Gifts Small Group DVD Trailer:
David Nevue, who plays the piano for us here in this quiet space, he accompanies us through the DVD study, so, please, it’d be a grace, pull up a chair?
And I’ll make bread right here in the kitchen …. and the kids will jump on the trampoline…
And we’ll open God’s Word and wander through the cemetery and kneel at Aimee’s and ask the hard questions … and I pray God leads us deeper into authentic, life-giving joy in Him.
Have a hot cup of tea? One Thousand Gifts Small Group DVD First Complete Session {22 minutes}:
{RSS Readers? Might you click here to view the farm videos in post…}
If you grin and say sure, why not? – you’d like to come too — the One Thousand Gifts: 5 Sesssion DVD Study and Participant’s Study Guide will make its way to your door in just a couple of weeks — just before the holidays —- might make a life-changing gift?
Or the perfect way to start off the New Year with a group of people you love?
The One Thousand Gifts: a Small Group DVD Study
Each session invites participants to explore further the transformative spiritual discipline of chronicling gifts and provides a Scripture, prayer, and between-session activities inviting you to go deeper into the concept of grace explored in the 57 week New York Times Bestseller, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
“How do we find joy,” Ann Voskamp wondered, “in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties?” When your days are filled with the mundane, disappointment, or even darkness, how can you break the bondage of self-hatred and fear that has white-knuckle control on your life and instead embrace the everyday blessings that will immerse you in Christ’s fullness? How can you live your life with a heart overflowing with delight?
In the One Thousand Gifts: DVD Study
Embark on this personal, honest and fresh exploration of what it means to be deeply fulfilled, wholly happy, and finally fully alive.
Sessions include:
Attitude of Gratitude
Grace in the Moment
All is Grace
Trust: The Bridge to Joy
Empty to Fill
: : :
Gather some friends together and unwrap this joy of the Lord?
I’m smiling big and trusting Jesus and flinging the front door wide open –
Y’all are warmly invited to come to the farm: One Thousand Gifts: a Small Group DVD Study
Day 25: Catch the whole 31 Days to Crazy Joy series right here
Like some crazy joy? (Anyone not want more joy?) Tap in your email to not miss a day of
your guidebook to 31 Days to Crazy Joy
Click here to download the FREE JESSE TREE Advent Family Devotional {please give it a few moments to download… thank you for grace!}
Links for 2012-10-24 [del.icio.us]
@ Mom Heart Online ... over here today with my dear friend and mentor, Sally Clarkson, thinking about what is a family?
Pain, suffering, and truth
@World Magazine... "I, a Bible-believing Christian...asked the question, anyway: “Why, God?”
Home Cooking Increases Longevity...
"...home cooking deserves a place in life-long education, public health policy, and household economics."
October 24, 2012
How to Make Any Place Happy
And after 11 years here, we paint the walls white, all the walls white, right over the shades of softest green, because in the beginning I wanted a cocoon and now I just want clean, the quiet of clean.
Because if you’re saying the average nowadays family has two kids?
And we have three times the average with these ridiculous six— then you multiply the age of these walls that try to contain all their banging, multiply that by three, then these walls are really 33 years old.
And four of these six kids are of the testosterone kind, real live farm boys — so it really was time to open a can of paint.
We start in the dining room.
Which used to be the study, before I moved the table in there and put the books up high, so we just keep calling it the study, where we put out the plates and where we eat books whole. We never get up from the meal without opening the Bible.
First, we patch in the holes with mud. Then sand it and the years right smooth.
We dip brushes and roll it out thick, as if we could cover things, and I remember how round Levi’s milky cheeks were when I first painted these virgin walls one night under a full moon more than a decade ago and he’d sucked his thumb to sleep.
After the walls are washed as white as wool, and before we move the table back in, the littlest, who wasn’t even here in the beginning, she washes away the dust off the century old floors. I call her Cinderella and she laughs loud and loveliest in all the emptiness and it echoes. And she makes them gleam, those floors that we pulled up from the old house and laid down again, the way one farm wife needs to walk the old paths, the ones worn by all the women before her.
That’s the thing: I am going about these floors and this world and this day looking for grace hours. Even moments will do. This changes a lot of things, most things — what you look for. Beauty’s to be had anywhere because where isn’t glory-packed full of God? The art of life is learning how to turn and see a certain way.
I take most things out of the room, leave empty spaces of white, and I hang only two things.
The framed print of the bowed man over the loaf of bread
, what I chose when my father-in-law asked me to choose just one thing from the house after Mom Voskamp went Home and he moved away. The print hung over the Farmer’s table all his growing up years, all those nine kids smelling like straw and dairy cows and grace, and now over our six farm kids here and another generation clinging to mercy.
On the other wall, I hang just one word, what every mother needs by the time she gets to a chair: Pray.
For all the piling, layering talk of how to peel back a bit of the earth and find happiness, it is right there on the holy-thin King James pages, right there on the white:
Happy is the people whose God is the Lord. {Ps. 144:15}
Everything else can be taken out of the room and the life — and He is the everything that makes happy.
In the white space, it’s a bit of a life epiphany — Any place becomes more like a palace just by filling it with thoughts of God.
And the Farmer, he grins at me already wiping fingerprints off white walls.
All this grace that makes light.
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And a week from today, this little blog space too, it gets a painting and arranging of the furniture too, a happy simplifying of the space! Yes, a little happy gleaming of everything familiar — and then I pray we can gather and simply look for the beauty that’s to be had anywhere because where isn’t glory-packed full of God?
And an invitation coming tomorrow too? For you to come to the farm? Stay tuned — a bit of the painting and freshening was for you to come and we’ll sit on the front porch swing together and just be real and quiet and filled with joy in Him. So, yes — happy quiet things tucking in this corner over the next several days — Any place becomes more like a palace just by filling it with thoughts of God.
Day 24: Catch the whole 31 Days to Crazy Joy series right here
Like some crazy joy? (Anyone not want more joy?) Tap in your email to not miss a day of
your guidebook to 31 Days to Crazy Joy
Every Wednesday, we Walk with Him, posting a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to His heart.
To read the entire series of spiritual practices
For the next week: The Practice of Joy…. What does it mean to choose Crazy Joy? How do we authentically walk through hard times? How do practice the “gigantic secret” of Christians? We look forward to your Scripture study, stories, encouragement….
Today, if you’d like to share with community The Practice of Suffering … with Joy.. just quietly slip in the direct URL to your exact post….. If you join us, we humbly ask that you please help us find each other by sharing the community’s graphic within your post.
Click here to download the FREE JESSE TREE Advent Family Devotional {please give it a few moments to download… thank you for grace!}
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