A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Offering: 5/15

Good morning, good God!

Today I want to offer you my gratitude,
my praise and thanks,
for just some of the innumerable gifts
I so often take for granted:
the blessings (large and small) that fill my day
but so easily escape my notice or attention...

I have so many things in my life
which I think of as basic (if I think on them at all)
and these are things that others 'round the world
would think as luxuries,
far beyond their reach...

So I offer you my thanks, Lord,
for the bed in which I woke,
the clean sheets and the comfortable pillows
on which I slept
in the safety of my bedroom
in a home with running water, hot and cold,
in a house with heat and air conditioning
and electricity, power and light
24/7/365...

And I offer you thanks, Lord,
for my morning medications
and for toothpaste and a toothbrush
(manual and electric),
for minty mouthwash
and for soap, shaving creme and razors
(one for my face and one for my head)
and for deodorant, after shave and Q-Tips...

And I offer you thanks, Lord, for my hot shower
with its pulsing needle spray waking me
and cleansing me as each new day begins,
opening my eyes, my pores, my whole body
to you and to the gift of the day ahead of me...

And I offer you thanks, Lord,
for my closets and my bureau drawers
filled with clothes from which to choose
by color and design just how each day
I'll dress myself for work or play,
closets to store my clothes for other seasons,
warmer and colder times,
when I'll be ready for the weather
and dressed appropriately...

And I offer you thanks, Lord, for my shoes:
black and brown, casual and dress,
and boots, sandals, sneakers, slippers, thongs
- and socks for different kinds of shoes
in white, brown, blue and black...

I offer you thanks, Lord, for my kitchen cabinets
filled with good food (and plenty of it)
and my oven and stove for preparing meals
that keep me healthy and well fed...

And I offer you thanks, Lord,
for my refrigerator, filled with food to keep
until it's time to cook or bake
or just enjoy its frosty contents...

As I count them, Lord,
these are about 50 reasons to be grateful
for things you give me every day
from the time I first awake
'til I sit down to have my breakfast...

These are 50 things I scarcely think of, Lord,
gifts I often take for granted,
gifts that others would gladly treasure
if the bounty that is mine became theirs too...

I offer you my thanks, Lord,
and ask for one more daily gift:
to be more and more aware of all I have,
of you the source of all my gifts
and for a heart more generously inclined
to share with others who have so much less than I...

Let me never take these simple gifts for granted
nor you, Lord, who bless me daily
in so many, many ways
from the time that I wake up
until I reach the breakfast table
and then, Lord, who knows (but you)
how many more the blessings,
how many more the gifts you offer me
all throughout my day...

Amen.