When this new way of engaging counting gifts & growing my gratitude muscle came to me, & I worked out a new way to count gifts- — I was frankly, beyond ecstatic! So it’s a wild delight to welcome our oldest son Caleb and his lovely wife Melba, of The Keeping Company, to share something that’s been in the works for awhile, an absolutely fresh, uniquely creative, new way to engage a daily habit of gratitude, grace, and glory, in the form of recording simple gifts. What a thrill to welcome them, and this fresh concept, to the farm’s wide front porch today!

Guest post by Caleb and Melba Voskamp

“Morning glory! Shine for Jesus!” 

No matter where I am in the world, every morning that I am not in the same house as my parents, a text pings through on my phone, usually around 7am. 

Every single day that I am not with my mom, she texts me to tell me good morning. Most mornings, with the occasional variation, the text includes that one simple but profound line – shine for Jesus. 

It’s a message I’ve internalized in more ways than one over the course of my life, and one I continue to strive for daily. 

The sanctuary of the church where Caleb and I exchanged our vows, and where I spent my childhood, prominently displays Matthew 5:16 on the rear wall. This verse is the primary view you encounter as you exit the building, and I’ve laid eyes on it countless times, the most unforgettable of which was when I walked the aisle for the first time as the new Mrs. Caleb Voskamp.

“Let your light shine…so that God might ultimately be glorified.”

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

Let your light shine…so that God might ultimately be glorified. 

Shine for Jesus, for His is the glory. 

“Let your light shine” comes to us from the Sermon on the Mount, the paradigm-shifting sermon that spans three whole chapters in the gospel of Matthew. In a break from His traditional parables, Jesus – rather bluntly – introduces us to an upside-down kingdom where the weak are strong and the last are first.

His sermon is not composed of His usual parables, nor is it a stark ethical rule book, but rather a beautiful and profound depiction of the blessed, abundant life available through His grace, and how to achieve it. 

There are few practices more deeply transformational or more deeply tied to that abundant, blessed life in Christ than the practice of daily counting blessings, of daily gratitude – profound gratitude, born of grace which gives rise to joy, the overflowing of our thankfulness springing up from the knowledge that God loves us and keeps His promises to us regardless of whether we deserve it… and overflowing in a fountain of joy and hope infused with divine assurance. 

“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich – Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”  

Esteemed theologian Deitrich Bonhoeffer writes, “In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”  

He recognized the profound power that gratitude can have to transform the Christian life. C.S.Lewis frames gratitude in a similar way, urging us to give thanks in all things: “We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.” 

The physical act of recording gratitude on a consistent basis has the power to utterly transform our lives and completely shift how we exist in relation to God and the rest of creation.

What if we entered into the transformative act of a life of counting blessings as we daily enter into the blessed life Jesus promises when we live out the words of the Sermon on the Mount?

“Scriptural gratitude is recognizing the kingdom of God within us and around us, regardless of our worldly circumstances.“

What if the lens of the blessed life of the Sermon on the Mount gave us eyes to see the blessings and gifts in our own life in surprising, profound, life-changing ways?

The idea of consistently giving thanks, seen through the lens of Sermon on the Mount, creates a healing, hopeful frame for daily life. Scriptural gratitude is not merely finding things to be thankful for in our present circumstances. Rather, it is seeing the world and our lives in the light of God’s Kingdom, understanding that even in suffering and hardship, there is divine purpose and blessing. 

Scriptural gratitude is recognizing the kingdom of God within us and around us, regardless of our worldly circumstances.

Above all, Scriptural gratitude is intentional.  

Intentional daily gratitude is not about ignoring life’s difficulties or sugar-coating pain and brokenness; it is about recognizing God’s presence and grace within difficulty or pain. 

Intentional daily gratitude gives perspective that aligns our suffering with the values of God’s kingdom — love, trust, compassion, humility, and grace. Through consistent gratitude, we are drawn into a transformative journey towards the heart of God, and into a fuller, richer experience of life in His kingdom. As we cultivate a heart of gratitude, our suffering may not change, but our perspective does.

“As we cultivate a heart of gratitude, our suffering may not change, but our perspective does.“

Intentional daily gratitude is the language of humility, the music of the meek. It is the prayer of those who take nothing for granted and considers everything a gift. It is the expression of a heart that has understood the meaning of Jesus’ call, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” 

Those who nurture gratitude daily are those who, in their humility, understand that the ground beneath their feet and the heavens above their heads are sheer gifts.

They are living the echo of the Sermon on the Mount, recognizing that even the mundane miracles of existence are divine benedictions, waiting to be unveiled.

So every morning after that text pings through, I do my very best to shine for Jesus… and that’s been happening in a fresh new way!

I sit down with my journal and my Bible, and I read, and I write, and I count gifts and blessings, noticing and recording God’s gifts and presence, grace, and unfailing faithfulness in all the little areas of my life… and I write those 3 gifts down (or more!, besides that day’s date and month. And this time softens the stress of the day, it soothes my anxieties, and it nurtures a deep desire to seek more of God, more of Scripture, and more of His presence in my life. Every day becomes an opportunity to reflect Jesus’ divine light in our lives, illuminating the world around us. 

And then the next morning, after my mother’s text to shine for Jesus, I turn the page of my Gratitudes and Beatitudes journal, to the next day’s page, to record another 3 gifts — so that each day of the month, I’m turning to a new page, and eventually, at the beginning of each new month, I return to the beginning of the journal, and continue recording that day’s gifts, so that as I count gifts, day by day, I find myself reflecting on God’s gifts from the same day of the month, from all the previous months, providing a cumulative gift experience, as I see how God provided with good gifts on the 10th of the month, last month, and the 10th of the month the month before that!

This entirely fresh new way of counting gifts, not only lets me see and reflect back on how God has blessed and given gifts on this day of the month in all the previous months, but it’s literally growing my trust in God’s goodness, igniting my heart in a blaze of love for how kind and good God is!

As we express gratitude – outwardly, consistently, intentionally – we get to be a reflection of God’s light, a reflection of His kingdom, a reflection of His glory in the world, and our own worlds!

This intentional, fresh new way of expressing gratitude can seep into the marrow of our beings, setting our hearts aglow with divine love, bringing us closer to the heart of God, and revealing to us, little by little, the extraordinary beauty of an ordinary life touched by His divine grace.

---