“I dare you.” Has anyone ever said that to you? I bet someone has at some point in your life. What did you do? Did you feel the need to do whatever it was that you were dared to do? Did you walk away shaking your head? The point of a dare is to get someone to do something they would not do on their own. So, another word for dare is challenge.
I was recently given a dare. Some friends of mine were discussing a book and starting a Bible study that included a big challenge. They asked me to participate. At first I was very resistant. These were my excuses: “My plate is full, I don’t have time, I can’t start anything else.” The truth is I just did not want to accept the dare. What was the dare? The dare was to read “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp and to make a list of 1000 blessings.
You may have guessed by now that I ended up taking the dare. I am actually still in the middle of part of the challenge, but I read the book. I also attended the short Bible study and discovered that it was not really my friends who were daring me to make a list of blessings, instead God was challenging me to see all things as gifts from Him. Yes, all things. Sometimes the hardest things are the very ones that God is using to teach me something important.
I would be lying if I told you I completely understood how this works. I don’t like the unexpectedly bad things that happen regularly. However, God is not surprised by these things. His throne is not shaken and He is still good and faithful. As Ann Voskamp says, “God is always good and I am always loved.”* This is a mystery that I hope I will be allowed to understand some day (along with String Theory).
In the meantime, I do understand that when I focus on what God has done for me, I have a sense of joy that has nothing to do with the day to day circumstances in which I live. I am beginning to understand that thanksgiving is not an exercise, it is an essential part of a life of faith. Finally, I am learning that when I accept the daily gifts as being from God, I am more open to sharing them with others.
I am currently on blessing #538 and I am committed to finishing the dare. What about you? What gifts have you received? Will you write them down? Can you list 1000? I DARE YOU!
*Ann Morton Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 100.