11/22/10

Monday Morning Offering - 120


Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

This week is a time, Lord,
when we do what we should do always and everywhere:
give you thanks and praise!

I offer you thanks for all the people
I so often take for granted:
those who serve me in a hundred, quiet ways each day;
those who work with me and around me and near me;
those who so often make my life easier, my work lighter;
those whose work so often makes my work fruitful...

And I thank you for those who stand ready to protect me,
in the town where I live and at posts far away,
even around the world;
I thank you for those who keep me safe
who safeguard my freedom and liberty...

I thank you for those whose work brings me:
food from farms;
delight from poetry and song and all the arts;
news from the world; truth from study;
and knowledge from a million different sources...

I thank you for those who deliver heat, light
and clean water to my home;
those who keep my home, my church
and my town the beautiful places they are;
those who bring the mail to my door;
those who deliver all the comforts I take for granted...

I thank you for all the people
who fill my mornings, days and evenings
with their smiles, their friendship,
their company and conversation...

I offer you thanks for the beauty of the world around me:
the light of sun and moon and stars;
the pull of ocean tides, the depths of lakes,
the flow of streams, the ripples of ponds;
the colors of nature, the bird on the wing,
the flowers of the field;
and all of Cape Cod...

I thank you for my faith, my trust, my hope in you;
I thank you for my ministry and the people I serve;
I thank you for the message of the gospel I preach
and the history of salvation
we inherit from your chosen people...

I thank you for the beauty of worship,
the depths of your Word,
they lyrics of the psalms,
the grace of the sacraments
and the life that is ours
through faith in you...

Make me truly and more deeply grateful, Lord,
for all you have given me
and for gifts I have yet to find and open...

I thank you, Lord,
for all things bright and beautiful
and for all things bruised and broken:
let me find in everything
and in everyone around me
a trace of your presence,
the fingerprint of your grace,
the signature of your artistry...

Indeed, Lord, help me
always and everywhere
to praise and thank you
for every good gift
that comes from your hand...

Amen.


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5 comments:

  1. What a wonderful prayer of gratitude! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

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  2. I thank the Lord for blessing me with your words. They are truely comforting and throught provoking.

    Happy Thanksgiving.

    Teacher

    ReplyDelete
  3. This really hit the mark for me this morning. Thank you!
    -MDR

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  4. thank you for making me more aware of those things and people that I am grateful for-
    so beyond my day to day-

    I have been grateful, but I think what/who I have been thinking of is really in a very small "space"-
    just in my own little world-

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thank you for this beautiful Monday Morning Offering. Cape Cod thanks you too! May you have a Thanksgiving filled with the blessing of being with loved ones.

    Godspeed,
    Rosemary

    ReplyDelete

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