Thursday, November 27, 2014

A Thanksgiving Prayer

On this Thanksgiving Day in the United States, I wanted to share with you the prayer that my family will be offering before sitting down to our roasted turkey dinner.


Dear Father in Heaven, we take so much for granted. You shower us so abundantly with Your gifts.  Everything we have is Yours and we forget that.  We go through our busy lives, foolishly thinking that we're the ones in charge. "I did this" and "I earned that" and "Look at what I accomplished" and "Look at what I have", and yet none of that would be possible without You, because everything that exists is truly Yours, and apart from You we are nothing.  You are the Provider, the Giver, the Sponsor of our bounty.  Thank You so much for all that You have given us and continue to give us.

As we sit down with friends and family, we also thank You for the gift of each other. We thank You for the gift of life, for our time, our talents and our treasures, for our health. We thank You for our wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends who help to root us and mold us into what we are.

We thank You for those who are protecting us, even now as we sit down at table. Please bless and protect and watch over all our men and women in the Armed Forces, Police officers, Firefighters, EMTs, First Responders and Doctors and Nurses who are on duty right now, protecting and watching over us as we speak. Please return them to their families safe and sound, to enjoy their own celebrations and their own offering of thanks to You.

In a special way, we ask You to bless and provide for those who are less fortunate, those who are poor or who are alone and have no family or friends to be with, for those who are ill or out of work.  Please open our hearts to them as never before, to share our time, our abundance and friendship with them. You have given these to us to be our physicians, to rid our hearts of selfishness and greed, to rid our attachment to material things, and to aid You in Your Divine Task of providing for everyone.

Lord, we thank You for those who have gone before us and are not with us today. We are still connected to them through You and through love. Watch over them as well, and we pray that they are with You, enjoying life and happiness for all eternity.

Lastly, Oh God, we thank You for this wonderful meal that we are about to enjoy. Please bless this food, bless this house and bless this family and continue to bless our nation on this Thanksgiving Day, and always.

Amen.

A very Happy Thanksgiving from the W2LJ household to yours! 


72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least! 

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