"Prayer for Expressing Gratitude"

Today was a tiring day with the big "camp-out" we put together for the kids. We had parents bring in tents and sleeping bags for the kids, and we set the tents up outside. It was a fun day where we went on a nature hike, roasted marshmallows, grilled out hot dogs, and napped outside in the tents. It was great fun for the children. It also happened to be the last day of school for all the kids. It was hard to say good-bye to the ones that were leaving us not only for the Summer, but especially those that left us and are moving on to the bigger and more exciting world of kindergarten. Watching those kids grow up and help teach them not only their letters and how to count and right their name and all the "pre-school" work, but also helping them learn how to treat others with kindness and help them when they got hurt and holding them when they were missing their mommies or daddies... You get really close to those kids, and because of that it is sad when you have to let them go and saying good-bye is a bitter-sweet moment. So I was feeling a little bit down about that and then I found this booklet with different prayers in it, and one of the one's I happened to stop and read was the one I really needed to see... I am very grateful God allowed me to play such an important role in the lives of those children... Anyway, I thought I would put the prayer here because it is one that everyone could probably do well with knowing.

Prayer for Expressing Gratitude

Gracious God, in the busyness of my day, I sometimes forget to stop to thank You for all that is good in my life. My blessing are many and my heart is filled with gratefulness for the gift of living, for the ability to love, and to be loved, for the opportunity to see the everyday wonders of creation, for sleep and water, for a mind that thinks and a body that feels. I thank You, too, for those things in my life that are less than I would hope them to be. Thinkgs that seem challenging, unfair, or difficult. When my heart feels stretched and empty and pools of tears form in my weary eyes, still I rejoice that You are as near to me as my next breath and that in the midst of turbulence, I am growing and learning. In the silence of my soul, I thank You most of all for Your unconditional and eternal love.
Amen.