Original post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TrinityUnitedMethodistChurchBlog/~3/XiX_IVHCoS4/
Dr. Michael Dent / November 13, 2012
Author Annie Lamott grew up in an atheistic home. Her family never said grace before a meal. Something within told her as a young child that everyone at every table needed blessing and encouragement, but it did not happen in her home. Annie had a sense of the divine presence who heard prayers and was closely connected to the cares and hearts of human beings.
One day Annie ate dinner with a child friend who was Catholic. Her family all prayed aloud together before dinner, “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts…” Annie writes of that significant experience, “I was so hungry for these words; it was like a cool breeze, a polite thank-you note to God, the silky magnetic energy of gratitude.”
Now as an adult, Annie and her sister and brother, are all middle-age and all are Christians of one flavor or another. At the holiday table they always give thanks, “acknowledging that the food didn’t just magically appear: Someone grew it, ground it, bought it, baked it; wow.”
Annie Lamott’s latest book comes out this month. It is appropriately entitled, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. I love it! How do you say thanks? How is your life grounded in gratitude? For what are you grateful?
November 18 is Gratitude Sunday at Trinity – a day to give genuine thanks as we sing, pray, share, speak, and present our Gratitude Cards for the year ahead. How will you give thanks in the next week?
