Practicing Thankfulness

What are we thankful for today?  Or I suppose I should ask, are we conscious of things we have to be grateful for? How often do we rehearse the events of the day or even the past week and remember how God has been good to us?  I don't know of any practice that brings joy, builds strength, and gives hope more than the practice of giving thanks. 

Every morning a number of faithful Christians around the world use these words in their time of thanksgiving to God:

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made.

We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.

And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days.

What do I like about these words?  First they remind me that the quality of my life is not the result of things I've earned.  I'm blessed with so much more than I deserve.  I am unworthy of the generous forgiveness and acceptance of God, of the many blessings of this day, and yet my life is filled with so much goodness. 

It also reminds me to be intentional about noticing and giving thanks for even simple things like beautiful things up and down our street, in a flower box, a community garden, a resilient weed growing between the cracks in the sidewalk.

Too often I take for granted the hope I have today because Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for my sins and to offer me new life with God. Immeasurable love are the words used in this prayer.  Love that is extravagant, that is personal, that is poured out on me on days that are good and days that are bad.

This prayer also calls us to a response, not just in our thoughts, but in our lives.  We live today, we've been given breath today by God so we can do good things that He has prepared for us to do.  What delight He will have and what joy and satisfaction we will experience if we do that today.

Help us, Loving God, to live today with great awareness of how You are blessing us and with loving service to You and those we encounter today as our way of saying “Thank you.”  Amen

The words of a song have been echoing through my head as I’ve written these words, “All my life you have been faithful.  All my life you have been so so good.  With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.” Let’s live in that today.