This summer I've been reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts. Sometimes you feel a connection to an author because of their writing style, content, or life circumstance. Mrs. Voskamp is a farmer's wife somewhere in the bread-basket farmlands of Canada. As a farmer's daughter myself, her writing resonates deeply with me in the rich rural upbringing I had.
One example, her escape from dinnertime chores to chase the harvest moon is a particularly lovely telling. I could smell the sheaves of corn stalks, hear the crunch of the half-frozen grass under her feet, feel the freshness of the cold night air, and thrill at the spectacular moon rise.
I also deeply appreciate her dare to live fully right where you are. Isn't that what makes life worthwhile, living where you are, living fully in the moment, and doing so with thanksgiving to God? This type of living is more related to the attitude and mindset than circumstance. It is what gives a person a generous, joyful disposition no matter what the circumstance.
I think of people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer as he served his fellow prisoners in the German prison camps; my mother as she kept a joyful spirit through months of health struggles; a college roommate who was always on the lookout for ways to serve others and woke each morning with a beautiful smile. And many more.
Do you know people who have dared or are daring to live fully right where they were? How about you and me today?
Martin Rinkart was a German Lutheran pastor who lived during the difficult years of the Thirty Years War. His hymn Now Thank We All Our God is an amazing table prayer, written for his children after his wife died. It is an astounding poetic affirmation of daring to living fully and thankfully in the midst of the most unimaginable circumstances.
Here's a video of Karg-Elert's stirring setting of that hymn for organ. It's a piece that has always inspired me to Greater Things when I've ruminated on it, practiced it, and shared it in worship. This recording is from a worship service at Muhlenberg Lutheran Church, where I was privileged to serve a beautiful congregation in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia.
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