A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: THURDAY 1/5

I have so many reasons to thank you, Lord -
   more than I can count!

But I'm easily more inclined to bring to prayer
      my complaints, my grievances, my wants and needs,
         my trials and troubles...

Not that this day is without its problems, Lord -
   I have plenty of those - more than enough!
But today I come to thank you
   for gifts and blessings, for grace and help
you've given me so often and so freely...

But even as I pray these words, Lord,
   I'm tempted once again to look first at what saddens
and distracts me from the joy of giving thanks
and so I pray you'll be generous and give me grace
   to let go, for this time of prayer, my troubles
and to look again and thank you for your gifts...

I thank you for the many times
   you've stood right by my side and held me up
when all my strength was sapped
        and hope was hard to find...

I thank you for the times you've healed my heart
   of brokenness I thought would never mend,
of pain I thought would never end,
   of fears I thought would haunt me all my life...

I thank you for nudges, the pushes
   and sometimes the shoves you've given me
to wake me up, get me going, move me along,
   put me on the right course, redirect my path,
set me straight and given me just what I needed
   just to take the next step...

I thank you for your Spirit helping me to be honest
   with myself, with you and with others;
I thank you for the courage to speak the truth
   to myself, to you and to others;
I thank you for the help I often need to say I'm sorry
   to myself, to you and to others;
I thank you for the grace to forgive myself and others;
I thank you for the will to surrender
   to the truth, to wisdom, and to your love...

I thank you for the ways you show your care for me:
   in the words and deeds and helps that friends and family offer;
   in the kindness of strangers;
   in unexpected pleasant moments come my way
when my eyes and ears and heart are open to your presence;
   and in the whispers of your Spirit in my thoughts and prayers...

I thank you for the joy of knowing that you're with me
   both in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health;

I thank you for the joy of days and years gone by

and for the memories that still linger in my soul;

I thank you for the happiness that used to be

and the promise of the hope there's more to come...

I thank you for the times, and there've been many,
   when your mercy pardoned all my sins
and gave a new beginning to my journey
   when it I thought that couldn't be...

I thank you for the simplest things in life
   and for the people I forget or take for granted
and especially I thank you for:

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I thank you for my faith and for the trust I have in you
   and in your wisdom and your word;
I thank you for gift of knowing that you call me by my name,
   that you know me inside out and yet you love me nonetheless;
I thank you for your giving me the grace I need
to walk in faith and not to fear, for you are at my side...

I thank you for the grace that helps me find and make the time
   to pray, to sit with you in peace, to trust that you are near,
that you are here, that you're my God...

In the quiet of my prayer, Lord,
   receive my thanks and praise this day
for all your gifts and blessings...

Amen.