Thanksgiving Prayer

Gracious and Life-Giving God,

You loved us into being, and your love sustains us now. We imagine that you delight in us as a mother delights in her precious child, an idea that has meaning for us precisely because you gave us families as the matrix within which we carry out your design for loving and being loved here on earth.

Today we gather with our families, those we were born into and those we created ourselves, those that chose us or that we chose without reference to blood relationship. Today we give thanks for all the blessings we enjoy, the bounty of your Creation, and especially for all of the families that we belong to.

They have carried us and nourished us, loved us and taught us to love, helped us to imagine what we might be at our very best and grounded us as we tried and sometimes as we failed to achieve those wild dreams. If at times they have disappointed us, we know that the reverse is also true.

Teach us to love, and teach us gratitude for all of the love we have received.

Thank you.

Amen.

(by Widening Circles)