Thanksgiving prayer

"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works."

לֵךְ אֱכֹל בְּשִׂמְחָה לַחְמֶךָ, וּשְׁתֵה בְלֶב-טוֹב יֵינֶךָ:  כִּי כְבָר, רָצָה הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת-מַעֲשֶׂיךָ.

— Ecclesiastes 9:7

Dear LORD,

Thank You for today. It's the Thanksgiving eve! Way back when, the Pilgrims had a hard, hard life with so much lost, but they paused and gave thanks to You for all the blessings You rained down on them. Back in Jamestown, so long ago, they started every day with prayer and worship with the Ten Commandments posted prominently in front of them to guide their way in the New World. Today, the people turn to You, again and again, in prayer and supplication.

Dear LORD, hear our prayers, grant us Your Grace. Give us wisdom and understanding. Give us peace and unity. Give us Your Love and protection. Comfort those who need it and strenghthen those who need to be strong today.

Thanksgiving eve: I have much to be thankful for. I give You thanks, o Lord, for my family: my kind, understanding, wise, compassionate, beautiful and holy wife, my two daughters, two diamonds, polished and smooth, sweet and sprightly, obedient and joyful. I give thanks for my job: my managers who are tolerant and patient and driven, my coworkers who are hard-working and accepting, my customers who enjoy working alongside us and are pleased with our efforts. I give thanks for my things: my cars that work, day after day, to get me to my job and my family to their activities, my house that provides shelter, heat, water, protection.

So, so much I am thankful for, LORD, and I thank You in the Name of Jesus, the Christ.

Amen.

A NATIONAL THANKSGIVING

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and

Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness”:

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the Beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplication to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our national government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, AD 1789 George Washington

— quoted verbatim from a Pilgrim's mind blog

Gimme Jesus

Dear LORD,

Thank You for this day, this inbetween time but between what and what? Somehow today feels significant, absolutely vital, like an empty page that needs to be filled with the stories of our lives. Is this our time and our lives? Do You look at the blank page of history, waiting to see what we write in it, how we fill it?

Today was special. Thank You for it. Thank You for the special dinner commerating all the hard work my wife has done in the Filipino ministry. Thank You for letting us see the faith of Your people that even in the flood where thousands have died, they turn to You, they run to You, filling Your churches to praise You, to thank You, to ask for Yourhelp, and in asking, Your help has come: a miracle. Your Help has come through the action of nations uniting to help those in need. Your help has come from the action of two little girls who give up their allowance, their convenience and comfort, so that their money can go to those who need it now.  From Your Bounty comes Your Aid.

LORD, you are bountiful and You are generous. Show us Your boundless and generous Love always. In the storms that buffet and kill us, be there for us, be our life and our protection, our light and our guide, our hope and our salvation. Life our physical concerns, our mortal hopes and concerns to You. Bless them and make them Holy.

I ask all these things in the Name of Jesus, the Christ.

Amen

DADDY!

Dear LORD ... DADDY!

I saw a note today on our fridge: "Mama, can I have the iPod. For Listening. Please." and it touched my heart. 

How easily I am persuaded to say "Yes!" — and eagerly — to my daughters! Is it like that with You? Are You waiting, with breath held, for me to ask so You may say "Yes" and say it eagerly and shower me with the superabundance of Your blessings?

I write on a blank page: "This page intentionally left blank." Why are pages left blank? Ary they there, not by our design, but by Yours, so that they may be filled by the outpouring of our hearts? Are they intentionally blank so we many see the silence of them and give You the space for You to be You?

Children are always asking permission of their mothers, and Mothers are always saying "no." Why is that? And children love their mothers more tha anything.  But children know, when they want to hear "Yes" they need only ask their fathers. When do we forget that, LORD, and why? Is that why You want us to be unto like little children? So that we may ask and so that You may say "Yes" and so we may play with each other and be happy and You may watch us, the proud Papa, proud that we are who we are, in Your Image and Likeness, and that we're pretty good kids, considering. All we need to do is to remember that and be safe as we play under Your Loving Protection.

O Happy Fault! Why did Adam ever bite into that apple? Is it because people are people and must find their own way? Please help us find our way back to you, LORD.

I ask this in the Name of Jesus, the Christ.

Amen.

Being Still

Dear LORD,

Thank You for today, today in which I can honor You. This is my joy, that I may sit here and pray before You. Here, it is simple, but outside it is not so easy. Is this my time of Peace? Should I be still now and know that You are God? But I find myself scared, angry and bitter. So much for being still. Is this, then the lesson I should be learning? Or, is this the time to plant, now, to, in this time of preparation, to work, and to work hard, to plant, now, so that in this time of the harvest I am blessed, superabundantly, with Your Graces? Is this the time, now, to be both and to do both? To be still, and calm, and know that You are God, and, at the same time, to answer Your Call and go out to the fields, and to work like never before, because the work is required and the workmen are few?

So hard, outside, but so simple: Mother Teresa knew what to do, and she did it. St. Pop John Paul II knew what to do, and he did it, and he had fun with his work, too. My Nana knew what to do, and she did it, every day of her life. All thoughtful people, but they didn't let their thoughts get in the way of what needed to be done, and not what they wanted to do, but what you did and what was in Your Plan. They submitted themselves wholly to Your Will, Your Plan, and they gave their time and their efforts to what was needed and didn't regard what they wanted. And look what they did!

Is now my time, LORD, to do Your Will?

I ask this in the Name of Jesus, the Christ.

Amen.