Thankful Always

When the holiday we know as Thanksgiving is over, it brings many things . . . the refrigerator is finally emptying out and the leftovers are gone, family is scattered once again, a new holiday season begins, and sometimes, we might even forget all about being thankful.

I want to hold on to thanks giving this time. I want to live with thankfulness all year around. I want to learn to be thankful always.

I would like to share a wonderful prayer with you. These beautiful words are a family prayer written by Walter Rauschenbusch as a Thanksgiving prayer. Composed around the turn of the twentieth century, the theologian and Baptist social reformer’s words are as beautiful and poignant today as they were a hundred years ago.

For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thornbush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Donna Alley wrote a song that expresses what I am trying to say. Here are the lyrics of the refrain:

In everything give Him thanks, give Him thanks.
In everything give Him thanks.
In the good times praise His name.
In the bad times do the same.
In everything give the King of Kings all the thanks.

Listen to the entire song by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at this link:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UN4rwsAQfyU&autoplay=1