Daily Devotion - Tuesday, March 1

A Prayer of Thanks

“O give thanks to the Lord,
for God is good and God’s steadfast love endures forever.”
--The beginning of a hymn of praise,
Psalm 136

Today’s key verse centers on the theme of giving thanks for the blessings we receive on the journey through life. Over the centuries many wonderful prayers of thanksgiving have expressed the theme of this verse. For today, a contemporary expression echoes the theme.

Loving God, we offer you thanks and praise
For all the surprising graces which come to us,
For those that sustain our lives and those that change them:

For food—familiar diets and startling new aromas and tastes;
For homes—places of steady surroundings and settings for redemptive love;
For friendships—old friends who are willingly open in their affection and their correction and new friends who remind us that your spirited presence still dwells within us and others;
For tasks to perform—routine actions which we do well and which bring order to our days and tasks at which we have failed, restoring a needed humility in us;
For your steadfast love—reminding us of our heritage
and enabling us to move into our tomorrows with confidence and courage.

We offer you thanks and praise, great and mighty God.
Amen.

--Ben Keckler
03.01.11