(There are times when social media does you the favor of recycling around to remind you of something you wrote on the same day in years past. That's the case with this prayer. I wrote it about this time of year during the worst of the pandemic. Spring was coming, Easter was near. God's dependability in creation was inspiring. Wherever you are today, emotionally, spiritually or geographically, what can you say "Thank you" for? I, for one, am thankful for the gift of readers just like you. Grace and peace,Bob Guffey)
Thank you, God,
for sun and sky
and clouds and grass
and trees and flowers
and the river that flows
near my house
and the flowers blooming
in our yards and the rabbits
and the birds-in-general
and, especially, the egrets
and the bald eagle that
soars untouchable over
our neighborhood.
Thank you for the smiles
and waves of friends
and neighbors
and the paradoxically
distant emotional embraces
we share as we pass one
another on opposite sides
of the street walking our lovely,
happy dogs during this time
when physical embrace is rare.
Thank you for the play
of children in close watch
of parents in their yards.
Thank you, God, for the
feel of spring and even the
powdery yellow pollen
that covers my car, another
sign of life’s rhythm and
renewal (though, I know, I
usually complain of its coming).
Thank you for people who care
for one another and for your world.
Thank you for a future with hope
because that is your nature.
Thank you for provisions
enough for today.
Thank you for opening
my usually distracted, busy eyes
to so much I have cherished
but have failed to see for too long.
Thank you for this listing
of gratitude and thanksgiving
that could likely go on and
on and on and on and on
because, even in the most
difficult of human times
your love and mercy and grace
and compassion and justice
persevere and sustain
and are planting themselves
deep again in our souls
bringing peace,
eventually.
Thank you.
Amen.
(-bguffey)
