(Note: This was written in 2001. It's simply an internal conversation I had with God, put on paper. In my everyday life, it's become almost 'habitual' to include God in everything, every thought, every moment. I praise God, love God, and also look to the Creator as a friend- someone to thank, to share my thoughts with, and to simply 'talk to'. One very important thing I've learned is this: No matter how 'down' on myself I may be, or how many 'flaws' I may magnify in my mind about myself, God sees me as the wonderful creation He made, and loves me for WHO I am, imperfections and all. Amen to that!)
Thanks, God
Hi God.
It's me. I know this isn't the most "formal" way to pray, but you know me...I've never been one for formality. Anyway, I think you can hear me whether I'm sitting here in this room, or driving in my car or planted out on a park bench somewhere. I think you're everywhere. I believe you are.
I know that I should probably go to church more, (actually I don't go at all), but there's something about it...I can't quite explain it. If it doesn't speak to me, I feel insincere going - as if I'm going just to prove a point. I don't think I need to prove any point to you other than the fact that I love You and believe in you and try to live a good life. Do I need to do that in a building? If I should, please let me know.
I don't know if I thank you enough for everything I have. I'm sorry if I don't. Sometimes I think people focus too much on what they don't have and forget what's really important. So, thank you. Thanks for my fiance, my family and friends. Thanks for my dog, he's so much fun! Thanks for beautiful sunsets and lakes and trees. Thanks for the ability to see and to walk and to taste and to think. Thanks for children; for they serve as a reminder to me that there is innocence and hope and good in this world. Thanks for the woman who let me go in traffic the other day. It was nice to have something thoughtful happen, even if it seemed small. It wasn't small. Just having a stranger do something kind for you makes your day a little better. Thanks for food and drink. I know there are so many out there who are hungry and thirsty, and maybe I should help them more where I am so fortunate. Thanks for my gift of music. It has added so much to my life and by sharing it, to other's lives as well. It's very rewarding when I use the gifts you gave me. I like to make others feel good, and you gave me a special ability through my voice and words to do so. Thanks for my country. I feel blessed to live in the United States. I know every nation has it's problems, but I know I am fortunate to have been born here. There is so much around me; so many riches and resources. Thanks for the little things in life that I love so much like coffee and chocolate and fireplaces and toasty slippers. As a matter of fact, thanks for my warm feet. I know there are so many who are cold. I want to give to them, but I don't know how. If there's some special thing I am supposed to do, could you guide me there? Thanks for the good doctors and medicine we have here. So many go without it. So many babies die because they don't have it. I know I am lucky. Thanks for my ability to see beauty in birds and flowers and mountains and the sky. Sometimes I'll gaze at the full moon for the hundredth time and still look at it in amazement, stunned by it's beauty.
Most of all God, thanks for loving me for who I am. I know I am not perfect, and I'm still okay to you. It doesn't mean I'll stop trying to improve myself...I'll always do that. But, I know I fumble sometimes and make mistakes. Thanks for forgiving me for them.
Well written, and we can learn a lot from this in terms of thanking God. One area in which I beg to differ: the scripture tells us to be part of a fellowship of believers. Hebrews 10:25 says "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Despite all our individual faults, we need each other. The Bible says it.
17 Apr 2003
Thank you for sharing your heart with us. It sounds like how I pray, how I feel about the *church*. I agree! What spoke to me is that God values our honesty, so many people put the *how-to's* on us, and God desires us just as we are. I am learning and appreciating that more and more. God richly bless you! I would love to read more of your "Just God and Me" prayers if ever you choose to write them.
