Previous Reflections
REFLECTIONS
May 31, 2009
Your father’s blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Gen 49:26
Sounds of the Day
The sounds of the day were usual sounds, but my thoughts about them were not usual thoughts. I heard the birds chirping in the trees and I thought of God’s creation. I heard sirens in the distance and thought how blessed we are to live in a country that cares for its citizens. I listened to thunder from a distant cloud and thought about the blessing of recent rains. I watched the dog chase his ball, the cat stalk birds, and deer graze in the fields and I thought about how God dresses our lives in all that surrounds us.
I listened as cars traveled by and thought about how God has broadened our lives. I listened to people walking about our neighborhood, some with partners and some alone, and I thought about the blessing of companionship and the peace from solitude.
The sound of a magnificent plane flying overhead revealed the wonder that such a vessel could be lifted into the sky. The sounds of emails rang into my computer and I thought of the many discoveries man has made about God’s amazing world. I heard church bells ring at the close of the day and thought how much God loves his creation and how blessed we are by the sounds of the day.
It is so easy to immerse ourselves in the fast pace of daily life and overlook the many blessings woven within it. And it is easy to forget to thank our loving God for the blessings He has given. So, let’s thank him now.
Gracious and loving God, we come to you today to give thanks for our many blessings in this life. We thank you for life and the simple things that we seem to overlook—things like the sounds of the day that bring us joy and reveal your peace. We thank you for the plants that grow around us, their colors that paint the earth, and their leaves that protect us and give life to the air. We thank you for the rains that make them grow and that restores life to the earth. We thank you for the wildlife that brings us pleasure, nature that sustains our lives, and discoveries that have made life easier.
We thank you, Holy God, for your grace when we fall short of your will. But we thank you most for your inestimable love revealed when you gave your Son so we may live with you forever. And it is in his Holy Name we offer thanks for our many blessings.
Amen.
“You are the light of the world,”
Richard Ì
Click here for Printer Friendly Version