A Thansgiving Prayer

If I would have created this blog earlier, I would have posted this Thanksgiving Prayer in time for folks to use it. If you don't already have one, here it is. Or - save it for next year.

Thanksgiving Day Prayer

We thank you, God, our grace, for being alive, tomorrow and today,
for this earth, for bread and light, for the people around us,
today, yesterday and every day.

We thank you for our lives here and now, lives sometimes difficult but full of joy.

Blessed are you, Creator of all that is, blessed are you for giving us
freedom and life, the light of our eyes and the air we breathe.

We ask your blessings now upon this food and upon our lives,
for we are all the work of your hands,
and we ask this as we ask all things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

A Thanksgiving Reflection

I can't do this in five words or less: In one more hour, it will be Thanksgiving. But that's not the moment I await. For a very brief time tomorrow, Kathy and I will be host to almost her entire family, including her parents just out of the hospital and now making their home with us; all of my "children", all grown up, including my son home from Atlanta for the holiday; my one-year-old grandson; one daughter's husband and another's boyfriend - both fine young men; my parents who now thankfully live in town; my brother and sister-in-law and their four great kids; some other smattering of nieces, nephews, and others. There will be some family who could not be here in town, but I am thankful for the precious moments we will have with those who are here. Missing will be friends who have moved away, family members who have passed away, and others who have drifted away. But all in all, God has blessed us with a remarkable opportunity tomorrow to see life from all sides, from both ends, and from the inside out. Life is precious. I am thankful for the opportunity to be reminded of this simple but profound truth once again. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.