I read a Chinese proverb that goes like this:

• What I learn I may forget.
• What I see I may remember.
• What I do I may understand.

I learn by doing.  What about you?  You can tell me how to do something.  You can even show me.  But let me get my hands into it and the task is more likely to make sense so I can duplicate it again.

So I count gifts and write them in a notebook, partly to understand.

I read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp a number of years ago.  Then a year or so ago, I led the Bible study she wrote by the same name.  Both emphasize the action of listing gifts daily, numbering them to one thousand and more, with the result being we become more joyful in the process.

I acknowledge that it is true for me.

When I am complacent and stop writing down the daily gifts, I begin to forget how many there really are.  I begin to focus more on what is lacking in my life.  The process of looking for gifts and then writing them down helps me understand how very much I am loved by God.

Eucharisteo Ann reminds me is grace and joy joined to become thanksgiving.  Some days counting gifts is just plain hard, the hard Eucharisteo when the gift does not seem a gift at all.  But I find it’s important to count even then, turning my eyes toward the Giver who brings beauty from ashes and works all things for good.

His gifts are everywhere.  This season of autumn has a harvest, a full and running over bounty of grace.  These gifts are ours if we choose to look for them and receive.  We can understand the goodness and love of God by listing them daily.  It’s a discipline, one that helps us grow.

Try it.   And by doing you may comprehend a little more the God who loves to give.