MORNING PRAYER -- THANKSGIVING

Gracious God
Bless this day with your presence
As we gather together
May peace and gratitude reign all around us
As we consider each and every blessing
Raising joyful hearts
To you in thanks
Amen


ON THANKS
Each day, I awake and immediately encounter reasons to be grateful. A farmer somewhere in the coffee belt harvested beans, sold them at market which eventually led them to a roaster who cooked them to meet Trader Joe's standard for French Roast. Somebody oversaw the packaging. Some trucker drove my coffee from a distributor to my store, where a clerk stocked the shelves. I went in, picked out my bag of coffee, and an extremely nice clerk checked my purchase out. I then filled my coffeemaker--assembled by someone else in a far off place--with water--purified by someone in the Water Department, then sent through pipes someone else laid. I poured my coffee into a cup fashioned by a potter in western North Carolina and drank in a new day.

So many people made my day start well.

Thank you, all.