Monday Morning Offering: May 8

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

Today I 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 often escape my notice and attention...

I have so many things in my life

which I think of as basic (if I think on them at all),

things that others 'round the world

would count as luxuries,

far beyond their reach...

So I offer you my thanks:
    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 AC,
    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 crisp, 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 soul, my whole body

        to you and to the gift of the new day just ahead...

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,

    and closets storing clothes for other seasons,

        for warmer and colder times,

    so I'll be ready for the weather

        and dressed for every clime...

 

And I offer you thanks, Lord, for my shoes:

    black and brown, casual and dress,

    and boots, sandals, sneakers, slippers, thongs

    - and socks for every kind of shoe

        in white, brown, blue and black...

 

I offer you thanks, Lord, for my kitchen
    filled with food - and plenty of it -
and for my oven, stove and microwave

    for cooking 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 cool and 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 wake up

until I fall asleep at night...

50 things I seldom think of, Lord,
    gifts I take for granted,
gifts that half the world would treasure
    if they shared my daily bounty...

 

I offer you my thanks then,  Lord, 

and ask for one more gift:

    to be more and more aware of all I have,

        and of you, the source of all my gifts,

    and for a heart more generously inclined

        to share with others the plenty that is mine...

Let me never take these gifts for granted

    nor you, Lord, who bless me daily

        in so many, many ways

    from the time that I wake up

        'til I fall asleep at night...

Oh, the blessings and the gifts, Lord,

    you offer me each day!

Receive my praise and prayer this morning,

    my gift offered in return... 

Amen.

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