A Thanksgiving Prayer
Deuteronomy 8:6-10
“So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Deuteronomy 8:6-10 NLT
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States, the day that Americans have set aside to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, stuff themselves silly with food, then fall asleep in front of the TV while watching football games and thinking about what to buy on Black Friday. At least that’s what most Americans seem to think Thanksgiving is all about…
In reality, it’s a day set aside in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln as a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", calling on the American people to also, "with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience .. fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation..."
Before that time, settlers in the New World celebrated days of both fasting and feasting to thank God for blessings received: sufficient rain, good harvests, the arrival of more settlers, being healthy during a smallpox or cholera epidemic, or military victories.
There’s a decided lack of gratitude on our part here in the early 21st Century. We’ve come to expect that everything is going to be perfect and plentiful, and we get angry when it isn’t.
Today, I’m ending our daily devotional not with a prayer of my own writing, but one that I found online that perfectly states what we should all be thanking God for this Thanksgiving Day… and every day.
A Thanksgiving Prayer
Vienna Cobb Anderson, via Beliefnet.com
God of all blessings,
source of all life,
giver of all grace:
We thank you for the gift of life:
for the breath
that sustains life,
for the food of this earth
that nurtures life,
for the love of family and friends
without which there would be no life.
We thank you for the mystery of creation:
for the beauty
that the eye can see,
for the joy
that the ear may hear,
for the unknown
that we cannot behold filling the universe with wonder,
for the expanse of space
that draws us beyond the definitions of our selves.
We thank you for setting us in communities:
for families
who nurture our becoming,
for friends
who love us by choice,
for companions at work,
who share our burdens and daily tasks,
for strangers
who welcome us into their midst,
for people from other lands
who call us to grow in understanding,
for children
who lighten our moments with delight,
for the unborn,
who offer us hope for the future.
We thank you for this day:
for life
and one more day to love,
for opportunity
and one more day to work for justice and peace,
for neighbors
and one more person to love
and by whom be loved,
for your grace
and one more experience of your presence,
for your promise:
to be with us,
to be our God,
and to give salvation.
For these, and all blessings,
we give you thanks, eternal, loving God,
through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.