Happy Thanksgiving!

“The root of joy is gratefulness…
It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
Brother David Steindl-Rast

O God, we thank you for this earth, our home;
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.
Walter Rauschenbusch