CHOOSING TO ACCEPT GOD'S GIFTS

Boneberg emphasizes the magnitude of God’s daily gifts in this Christian-themed nonfiction work.

“By understanding God’s gifts and accepting God’s gifts,” the author writes in the book’s opening chapter, “we can better understand and accept God.” These gifts, Boneberg observes, “are simple yet profound” and offered to us daily. The book’s chapters each center around a specific gift. The first three gifts from God are “Today,” “Everything,” and “Everyone.” By adopting a spirit of gratitude for each day, person, and thing that we encounter, we can better understand how God cares for us daily in a myriad of ways, per the author. The penultimate gift discussed in the book is the act of giving itself; Boneberg highlights how we experience love and fulfillment through our own sacrificial giving. The final chapter addresses the Christian concept of the “kingdom of God,” arguing that it’s not necessarily a heavenly utopia but something “within us and among us [that] makes all the gifts of each today complete.” A former lawyer who’s long been active in Presbyterian ministries, the author is now legally blind after years of vision loss—he initially wrote this book as “a kind of mental focusing, an attempt to see more clearly that which should be a focal point of my life.” This considered, almost meditative approach to life informs the book’s underlying philosophy—Boneberg urges readers to carefully “weigh every word” of the Bible verses found on nearly every page. The author’s sagacity is conveyed in an engaging writing style. While the brief text (with fewer than 40 total pages) is simple and accessible (the book includes commentary on social media, comic books, and Fred Rogers, among other pop-culture references), this is not a book designed to be read in a single reading; instead, it’s meant to be meditated upon as readers apply its principles to find their own paths toward “happier, more fulfilled lives.”

A thoughtful consideration of the spiritual benefits of gratitude.