In Christian discipleship, every day is Thanksgiving Day.
The “General Thanksgiving,” found in The Book of Common Prayer, is the first prayer I pray every morning to prepare my heart and mind for more prayer.
To begin a prayer life, or to enhance or jump-start your current prayer life, pray the “General Thanksgiving” first thing every morning, slowly, reflectively, faithfully.
Again, pray it every morning, and repeatedly during the day and night, as needed.
Daily, regular prayer will transform your heart, mind, body and spirit–and transformation is what the Christian life is all about.
It’s not about rewards for good behavior, or punishments for the other kind, but all about being transformed into the likeness of the one who is on the side of life.
Pray it . . . .
-
“A General Thanksgiving,”
From The Book of Common Prayer
Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have
done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole
creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life,
and for the mystery of love.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for
the loving care which surrounds us on every side.
We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best
efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy
and delight us.
We thank you also for those disappointments and failures
that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the
truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast
obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying,
through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life
again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.
Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and
make him known; and through him, at all times and in all
places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.
Thank you for that prayer and for using the photo of the cross from Camp Sumatanga here in North Alabama. It is sacred ground.
Yep, it’s a beautiful place!