Thank You, Lord

Note: A personal reflection and prayerful meditation based on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5.1-12), originally posted on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2017, and, as it remains true for me, here, revised for brevity’s sake.

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This day, O God, I give You all praise and thanks that (only) through Your Holy Spirit, I know myself to be:

Poor in spirit. Accepting all of me. My strengths and weaknesses. My wealth and want. And in my acceptance, knowing that God is God and I am not.

Mournful. Not melancholy, bemoaning all things, but rather caring for others. Even more, knowing that I, in my sinfulness, grieve others. Therefore, still more, knowing that I need forgiveness.

Meek. Not spineless, but with righteous courage contesting against all hatred and injustice that grieve God’s Spirit.

Hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Insatiably desiring right relationship with God and all others, including myself.

Merciful. Settling for no safe-distance-sympathy or passing-moment-pity, but rather being responsible (response-able) to others. Striving to see through their eyes; especially those most unlike me.

Pure of heart. Single in purpose. Wanting, willing one thing. To see and to know God. Thus, to behold God’s ever-unfolding revelation of the meaning and purpose of life.

Peacemaking. Taking no pleasure in conflict, yet being bold to engage it. Striving to understand all points of view, especially those with which I disagree. Being mindful of our common dignity as God’s creations and our common destiny to live in God’s peace that surpasses our understanding or to die in our divisions.

(And believing that Jesus’ teaching is no multiple-choice, but rather an all-inclusive list; accepting the last and, for me, hardest of all…)

Persecuted.  Willing to sacrifice my comfort and convenience, even my well-being for the sake of standing in commitment to God and God’s kingdom.

O God, for all this, on this Thanksgiving Day, in the words of a song, I “thank You, Lord, I just want to thank You, Lord.”

Amen.

© 2020 PRA

• Lyrics (2004) by Donald James Moen