Thank you God for everything! Thank you for the cedar and fir trees that bend and bow in the autumn breeze. Thank you for the leaves that fall with the winds and rain and make me wonder, which will be the last to let go – and then dance to the ground and become the earth from which they arose. Thank you for the rose budding on the bush for one last blossom of beauty. Thank you for the deer that live in the woods around us, even though they come into our gardens at night and eat the roses, blue berries, raspberries and other tasty morsels. They remind us that they, wildlife, were here before us and this earth is their home too, for us to care for as good stewards and not just be exploitive consumers as we are led to believe.
Thank you for enemies or those we have enmity (bad feelings) with, for they call us to love. As the Master said, “Love your enemies;” be they terrorists, bullies, politicians, power mongers, corporate executives or the next-door neighbors. Thank you for those who cause us to look deep within ourselves to see the pain and the lost little child longing for love and to make it home.
Thank you for all those people who protect and defend us the police, fire fighters, EMTs, nurses, doctors, care providers, military and peace workers. Thank you for all who have served.
Thank you for the blessings of being born in this country with loving and supportive parents and brother who raised me well, gave me all they could and not always understanding, opened their arms and let me fly. Thank you, I am so blessed. Thank you for the wonderful wife and children that have come into my life and been my beloveds, teachers and friends. Thank you for all my relatives and in-laws who have called me to be understanding and loving with all our diversity, thank you for all my relations.
Thank you for our cat, who challenges me to love and be who I think and say I am, even when she spits up on the floor or tracks her stuff around leaving smudge marks that I can get down on my hands and knees to clean up, learning humility, patience and kindness. Thank you for all my teachers. Four legged and two legged. Thank you for all the dogs in my life.
Thank you for all the suffering in the world, that calls me to compassion and service. Thank you for those suffering from AIDS and famine for they call us to understand that those are unnecessary and unacceptable and that we can and must change the systems, behaviors and beliefs which perpetuate unnecessary suffering. People don’t have to suffer and go without in order for us to have what we want.
Thank you for this moment and this breath, animating my body. Thank you for all the moments and things I’ve gone through, lessons I’ve learned, places I’ve been, things I’ve seen and done and gone through to get to this moment.
Thank you for the eyes reading these words and the minds and hearts taking in the truths they echo. Thank you.
Praise God! Yeah God! Thank you God for everything.
