Holy Spirit, open my heart to understand how precious I am to you, how loved I am by you. Open the eyes of my soul, to see the gifts you have put before me this day. Give me the grace to recognize each encounter with you. Teach me to respond in gratitude, to grow in gratitude. Teach me to be generous, as you are generous with me, and to collaborate with you in serving my sister and my brother for your greater glory.
Holy, you are the most holy one. Draw me towards holiness. I see, hear, and touch glimpses of you and your love as your will is fulfilled before me. You have given me this day to live.
Spirit, inspire me to rise up and live alive, choosing your will, not mine. Pulling the weeds of temptation by choosing what I want and planting seeds of your promises. Provide me the fortitude to be gentle with my aging body and tuning into its needs. I’m sorry for that many times when I have abused myself, starving it for movement and nutrition by falling into the trap of abandoning my body. By putting myself last on the list of people to care for. When I prioritized the comfort of work or lack of discipline rather than movement or healthy choices. I forgive myself and I’m open to your purification to cleanse me and teach me the way to do this. Help me lose the all or nothing and live in the tension and call on the Spirit of self-control. Protect my thoughts that become desires, I will bring them to you. I will use the relationship with my body to bring me closer to you.
I commit myself to you, establish my plans. This is how I will serve you today living in your power and glory. By loving the temple of my aging body. God be praised, hallelujah is my song, in gratitude.
I’ve always been a person who accepts change despite my desire to cling to the comfort of the known. Lately I’ve been leaning into using AI to help with my work writing. It’s a great tool, just like the calculator has been. I got curious and asked Microsoft CoPilot to scour SWG and write a poem of gratitude which follows. Despite it not being crafted directly from my heart, it did a pretty good job!
Heavenly Father,
I come before You with a heart full of gratitude. Thank You for the countless blessings You bestow upon me each day. Your goodness surrounds me, and I am in awe of Your love and grace.
Thank You for the gift of integrity, for guiding me to live a life of honesty and virtue. Help me to walk in Your truth and to reflect Your goodness in all that I do.
I am grateful for the moments of stillness where I can feel Your presence and for the strength You provide during times of challenge. Your love sustains me, and Your wisdom guides me.
Lord, I thank You for the beauty of creation, for the people You have placed in my life, and for the opportunities to grow in faith and love. May I always be mindful of Your goodness and strive to cultivate it within myself and in the world around me.
As we enter fall and the final quarter of 2024, we move into the Season of Gratitude in our prayer where we thank God for what we have been given. This is done in prayers of thanksgiving. I love this statement, before you ask God for anything, first thank him for everything.
When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator.
Its been a rough year for sure with the pandemic and other social challenges we face. As we begin our week, I invite you to focus on the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Sure, it is nice to have a day where we overindulge in turkey, fixings, and pie until we are in a food coma but let us pause and focus on the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
I have always loved The Wizard of Oz. Once I got past the scary monkeys, the message about the power within and our desire to be home rang loud and clear. This message still resonates with me today and keeps my perspective on what is important. Our world is a constant encounter with information based on scarcity and fear, it takes real effort and a lot of grace to keep focused on abundance and the possibilities. Additionally, it takes a lot of faith to truly believe God is in the middle of all this.
Smitten With Goodness 