THANKS

Thank you, my Lord
for the many, many gifts you have given me:
good health, good mind, good friends,
good circumstances.
Food to eat, clothes to wear
and shelter over my head.

Guide me Father, to use them well.
Inspire me Holy Spirit, to use them wisely.
Show me, Jesus, how to share them generously.
Let me not live for earthly material things
but for the gifts of grace and good guidance.

Teach me always to count my blessings.
material and spiritual.
In any way that I am gifted,
Remind me ever to use my talents
and my good fortune to help others.
Keep me ever mindful that it is more blessed
to give than to receive.

Let me never be miserly or selfish.
Help me not store up my goods on this earth.
Help me to learn to "live for others."
Let me wish always more for the happiness
of others than for my own.
Let me celebrate and thank you
when good things come to others.

Let me never judge your gifts to me
by the wrappings in which they may come.
Let me see in all circumstances
the hidden graces that may lie within
and their opportunities for grace.

Keep me always from the temptations
of earthly vanity, false gods,
false friends, sinful baubles:
remembering the truism:
All that glitters is not gold.
Let me always trust that you, not I,
know what is best for me and my immortal soul.

Amen

(c) 2012 Donn B. Murphy