Each autumn in the heart, a lay of gratitude is stirred...
For the kind generosity of mercy’s countless ways
For goodness we can taste and see and hear, hold and let go...
Heavens and earth spill a buffet of beauty, undeterred...
Each autumn in the heart, a lay of gratitude is stirred
Heavens and earth spill a buffet of beauty, undeterred
By oft thoughtless regard for He who deserves ceaseless praise
For the kind generosity of mercy’s countless ways
For goodness we can taste and see and hear, hold and let go
For blessings poured abundantly that we will never know
For all that makes us laugh and sing and dance and pray and weep
Because true love is bound to bring sorrows that run soul-deep
To teach far-too-forgetful, far-too-hurried/worried you and I
To be more humbly grateful in our manner of reply
To the Giver of ev’ry day whose lavish grace and love
Sustains a bountiful array, far over-and-above
What we can think to ask; exceeding our wildest ken
With Benefit that He may mask in seeming loss/suffering; Amen
As seasons ebb and overflow our hearts with thankfulness
As autumn casts its golden glow through woodland’s auburn tress
As we with wonderment behold the heavens’ welkin span
And echo, like David of old, dumbfounded ‘what is man'
That you are mindful of us still, and crown us with the spoil
Of the Creator’s perfect will, to worship while we toil
And care for the work of your hands; the flocks, the herds, the beasts
The offspring of Thy first commands of ‘let-there-be’ laid feasts
Of the birds of the air, of all that swims, flies, leaps and grows
To kindle in our prayer a madrigal of gaping prose
An uncurbed surge of utter bliss no words can quite construe
For the God who made/gave all of this is mankind’s Saviour too
He bore our debt of sin and shame; He died and rose again
Lord, how majestic is Your name in Heav’n and earth. Amen
Then, as we bow before You, Lord on this Thanksgiving Day
As our gladness is outpoured in grateful lay, we pray
That this is not a one-day hymn we piously extend
But a long, ceaseless song we sing forever without end
A humble, holy, heartfelt cry of gratitude unfurled
To honour and to glorify the Saviour of the world
Who, without partiality, will pardon me and you
Then surely thanksgiving must be repentance, meek and true
For who besides God can forgive, and break the curse sin wrought
And who but God can help us live and love the way we ought
And who but God grants treasures that surpass Time's finite wink
And promises us pleasures beyond what mortal can think
And who but God has loved like this; He forgives us and then
Showers us, undeserved, with His kind faithfulness. Amen
Janet Martin
My grandchildren invited me to come with them on their hike today.
It was my pleasure and honour!
Happy, Happy Thanks-living!!
Rom.11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
For from him
and through him
and for him
are all things.
To him be the glory forever!
Amen.
