A Thanksgiving Prayer

11-25-10

Lord, I am thankful for 5 years in China. I am thankful for the year I lived without my parents, for now I know the love of my extended family.

Lord, I am thankful for those first few years of poverty here in America, for it has taught me that there is no shame in needing aid and that you will always take care of us.

Lord, I am thankful for years of being picked on and having few friends, for now I know the joy even one friend can bring, and the importance of love. I know now to defy society's expectations and to resist peer pressure. I'm not afraid to show my true colors.

Lord, I am thankful for easy and hard classes, so I know my strength and potential. They have given me confidence.

Thank you, Lord, for brilliant sunsets, for long hugs, for leaves dancing across the golf course, for dancing barefoot in the rain, for moments laughing so hard my stomach hurts and smiling so much my face aches.

Thank you, Lord, for pillows and shoulders to cry into.

Thank you for parents who understand me, who support me in all that I do, for sisters to read to and who take care of each other. Thank you for the coziness of seven people crowded around a tiny table for dinner.

Thank you, Lord, for my life, in joy and sorrow. Blessed be Your name.

Amen.