A Concord Pastor Comments: Day 4 on retreat: Thursday

If you're reading this, then you're still on retreat with me!

These posts are roughly following the path of my own retreat here in Gloucester and now I find the Spirit moving me to a new place.

We've spent the last several days
   praying to simply be in God's presence and know the Lord's love.

Remember?
   Let God look on you with love...
   Lord, let your love come upon me...
   Lord, envelop, cover, overshadow, fill, overwhelm, engulf,
      anoint, caress, hold, melt, inebriate, infuse, bathe, surround,
         grip, embrace, feed and touch me with your love...

When we find ourselves in God's presence, aware of his love,
   inviting the Lord's grace into our hearts
then a natural next step is gratitude -
   not only for God's presence and love but for all the gifts and blessings
      flowing from his heart and hands into ours.

So, we're moving from presence to presents (gifts and blessings)!

So... find or make some time
to sit in a quiet place,
maybe you'll light a candle,
then remember you're in God's presence -
and pray with me...

Every good gift comes from your hand, Lord!

Help me to count my blessings this day
   and to be grateful to you from whom they flow...

I thank you for the blessing of family and friends,
   those with me still and those gone home to you...

I thank you for my eyes and ears,
   for finding the beauty of your presence all around me...

I thank you for my imagination,
   for the capacity to dream what is not yet, but yet might be...

I thank you for all the blessings I miss
   and for the ones I take for granted...

I thank you for nature's seasons and all I learn
   in their coming and going, year in and year out...

I thank you for the blessing of a sunrise
   and the blessing of the same sun's setting...

I thank you for the company of others
   and good times shared with them...

I thank you for silence, for solitude
   and for times of peace and quiet with you...

I thank you for your mercy and forgiveness,
   for your pardon of my faults and sins...

I thank you for correction that helps me grow
   and for reprimands that keep me honest...

I thank you for the healing grace of forgiving others
   and of others forgiving me...

I thank you for anticipation's joy
   and for disappointment's healing...

I thank you for a good night's sleep
   and the blessing of sweet dreams...

I thank you for the gift of each new day,
   one day at a time...

I thank you for steady work, for satisfying work,
   for work that serves the needs of others...

I thank you for the gift of those who help me
   and for the opportunity to be of help to others...

I thank you for the works of grace and faith
   that shape us as your people...

I thank you for a child's birth

   and the promise new life brings...

I thank you for the gift a peaceful death can be

   for those who've lost a loved one...

I thank you for the life that's mine

   and your promise of a life that never ends...

I thank you for the ordinary, the routine
   the unexpected, the surprise...

I thank you for cleansing tears

   and for healing laughter...

I thank you for my faith when I'm confused;

   for the gift of hope when trust's in short supply;

   and for the blessing of your love when I'm alone...

In the quiet of my prayer, Lord,

   help me count my blessings before I list my problems,

      before I whine and whimper,

         before I turn to pity for myself...

Every good gift comes from your hand, Lord,

   and you're more generous than I sometimes notice,

or see, or acknowledge, or remember

   and hold in my heart as gift and grace...

In the quiet of my prayer, Lord,

   show me the peace, the grace, the healing

      of your blessings in my life:
the ones I often miss, the ones that I've forgotten,

   and all the blessings that will come my way today...