Thursday, February 23, 2012

A Thank You Prayer

I'm terrible at writing thank you notes. If it was a crime to not send thank you notes, I would be spending the rest of my life in jail. It's not that I don't appreciate things. I DO. Sincerely from the bottom of my heart. But I think so much and so long about how thankful I am that it leaves no time for writing a note. Was that a flimsy excuse?

Anyway, I had to write notes for the people who participated in our last awareness events, which got me thinking about a few other "thank yous" I should acknowledge, which culminated to the ultimate thank you I owe! Here's the best I could come up with:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you Lord for the extremely mild winter. There have been no blizzards, no large accumulations of snow, and very few days of below zero weather. There have been very few windstorms or icy roads to be trapped in. There have been no bears finding their way into my apartment and helping themselves to the contents of my fridge. There have been very few mornings of scraping ice of the windshield, and even better, there has never been a morning when Ethel has not started. 

Thank you Lord for keeping me from contracting any rare, incurable cold weather diseases. I had the flu, but it was gone in 3 days and I am grateful to have had so many concerned for my well being. There is no frostbite on my fingers, toes, ears, or nose. Thank you Lord for helping me appreciate the coziness of warm fuzzy socks and hot chocolate. Thank you for days when going outside is not necessary, and looking out my window is like looking into a snow globe. 



Thank you Lord for the people you have placed in my life. Thank you for my fellow VISTAs who are sharing this adventure. Thank you for my coworkers at the courthouse who have gone out of their way to make sure I have everything I need. Thank you for giving me a Supervisor who also delights in you, and trusts me enough to let me explore and make my own mistakes. Thank you for giving me a family that understands my desire to travel across the country to help people I have never met. Thank you for old friends who brighten my days with long conversations that feel as if we’ve never been apart. Thank you for the church family you have given me who take time to call or send texts, cards, and packages, just to remind me that they still care. Thank you for friends and family who are willing and able to travel long distances on uncomfortable flights into less than perfect weather to visit me. Thank you for always making sure I feel loved.

Thank you for the adventures. Thank you for the time to play in the snow. Thank you for all the new experiences that I have had this year. Thank you for letting me stay alive after my first skiing trip (I did not appreciate the horrible pain afterwards but I understand that you can’t shield me from everything. Consequences are important).  Thank you for the mountains and the lakes and the wide-open spaces. 

Thank you for always being with me wherever I roam. Thank you for helping me to succeed often enough to feel confident, but fail enough to know that you are always in charge. It is only by your grace.  Thank you for allowing me to see you in the many people and situations that have risen here. Thank you for this beautiful gift of life.

 

Amen.

My Snow Angel