Thursday, 17 June 2010

Thanksgiving

O my Lord, my Lord, I thank Thee
For that I am,
that I am alive,
that I am rational:

For nurture,
Preservation,
governance:
for education,
citizenship,
religion:

For Thy gifts of grace,
Nature,
estate:

For redemption,
Regeneration,
instruction:
for calling,
recalling,
further calling manifold:

For forbearance,
Longsuffering,
long longsuffering towards me,
many times,
many years,
until now:

For all good offices I have received,
Good speed I have gotten:

For any good thing done:
For the use of things present,
thy promise
and my hope
touching the fruition of the good things to come:

For my parents honest and good,
Teachers gentle,
benefactors always to be had in remembrance,
colleagues likeminded,
hearers attentive,
friends sincere,
retainers faithful:

For all who have stood me in good stead
By their writings,
their sermons,
conversations,
prayers,
examples,
rebukes,
wrongs:

For these things and all other,
Which I wot of, which I wot not of,
open and secret,
things I remember, things I have forgotten withal,
things done to me after my will or yet against my will,

I confess to Thee and bless Thee and give thanks unto Thee,
And I will confess and bless and give thanks to Thee
all the days of my life.

What thanks can I render to God again
For all the benefits that He hath done unto me?

Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626)

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