As we take a moment to pause for this practice today,
I just want to meet you where you are.
So whether you're listening to this in the morning or in the evening,
At the start of your week or maybe the close of it,
Just know that there's no other perfect time than to give God your thanks and your praise than now.
If it's okay,
I invite you to close your eyes or just take a soft gaze out in front of you.
Maybe just starting with a deep clearing breath,
So inhaling fully and then releasing completely out of the mouth.
Just allowing yourself to arrive in this place of stillness,
Of ease,
Of presence.
And perhaps you either choose to bring your hands,
Palms up,
Resting on your knees or out to your side or maybe you allow the hands to rest on your heart.
Whatever feels most comfortable.
Just allowing this space for God's presence to surround you,
To fill you in this moment as you just take time out of your busy day to say thank you.
God,
We come to you in this moment without request,
Without specific need.
We come to you in this moment just to say thank you.
No matter where we are in life or what has happened over this year or over this week,
We know that your purpose and your grace is rooted in every moment.
God,
We're so grateful for just your gentle presence and your gentle peace and your continued love keeping us day after day.
God,
We're so grateful for the amazing ways that you move in and out of our lives and the lives of our family and our friends and those who surround us.
God,
We thank you for your protection.
God,
We thank you that you're with us and you bless us and we don't have to do anything in particular to earn your love and to earn your grace or to earn your praise.
God,
We thank you that just simply by accepting you and allowing you to move freely in our lives through our trust in you that you continue to bless us and make ways out of no ways and you continue to exceed all of our expectations and everything day after day.
We are so grateful.
We're so grateful for what you're doing in our lives in this moment,
What you have done in the past and what we know you're going to do in the future.
God,
We thank you for those moments that you kept us when we did not understand what you were doing.
We thank you for those moments of pain and of hurt,
Of confusion because of the wisdom that we gained from it.
God,
We thank you for your security and your safety and the things that you protected us from that we didn't even know was headed our way.
God,
We thank you in the moments of confusion and misunderstanding and those moments where we didn't know if you were near,
That you were near,
That you were always with us.
God,
We thank you for the things that we don't even know that you're going to do in our future that days out,
Weeks out,
Even years to come that there will be so many tremendous blessings sent our way that we know that only come from you.
We know that we want to continue to give you the glory and to give you the praise because without your love,
Without your provision,
Without your presence,
We wouldn't be where we are today and we wouldn't be in this space of just expectancy,
In this space of contentment,
This space of peace,
This place of ease without you,
God.
And even if we're going through something,
Even if we're experiencing need or want in our life that we can find those moments of peace and of ease because we know that you're with us.
God,
We just thank you for your presence that if you do not do anything else in our life that we know that you've already done more than enough.
God,
We thank you so much for everything that you've done,
Everything that you're doing and everything that you continue to do in our lives.
Amen.
And before we close this practice,
I just want to share a few Bible verses,
A few Psalms that just help to acknowledge this praise to help hone in on this idea of holding on to praise and gratitude and just love for God.
In Psalms 118-24,
This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 107-1 says,
Oh,
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever.
Psalm 150 and 6.
Let everything that has breath,
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
And lastly,
Psalm 103 verses 2 through 5.
Praise the Lord my soul and forget not all his benefits,
Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.
And now I invite us to just take a moment to pause,
Just to express gratitude and whatever ways that show up for just a few more moments.
Thank you.
And as you bring your awareness back into this moment,
Begin to deepen your breath.
Maybe allow the hands to fall to the side and wiggle fingers,
Rotate wrists.
Maybe rub the palms together,
Generating a bit of heat.
And then maybe placing the palms over the eyes,
Just soaking in the warmth.
And then allowing the hands to release down,
Gently flutter the eyes open and continue on with your day.
