Thank you, Lord, for
The gift of yourself, in full,
The measure pressed down and running over
Grace upon grace
Unseen, unfelt, so seemingly distant and aloof sometimes
Surely my own projection of my own sense of abandonment and betrayal
Surely you know abandonment and betrayal better than I do
And suffered it for my sake
In your great mercy you wrestle with me
As you did with Jacob
In all my anger and contentious strife
You grapple with me and bear me up
And bless me with limping
And how you have also blessed me
With peaches and pecans and chocolate chips
And blueberries and pumpkin
In pancakes and pie
A turkey to roast
Sweet potatoes and more
With husband and child
Parents and in-laws
Cousins and uncles and aunts
And nieces and nephew
With friends far and near
Close and arms-length
On and off
Here and there
Reconciled or never estranged
With those who love me
Despite all they know of me
Who forgive and welcome me
Nearly as you do
With the sounds and movements
And efforts of music
In instruments and voices
In dance and in still art
In books and even tv
With the clouds soaring on high
In their infinite chaotic order
And the following moon
And the trees stretching forth
How you have blessed me
Lord, my God,
My heart bows by grace
Before you.

