A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Look at the table nicely set, food looking it’s best,
The smell from the kitchen wakes those who rest,
Everyone will come, the family together again,
Listen to the laughter through the cold and rain.

A prayer of thanks is said with heads quietly bent
But are the words meaningless? Is anything meant?
Or do we take for granted the bounties of this land
For even the very poorest have some food on hand.

If we were to visit some strange, impoverished place
Where food or even water their tables do not grace,
They do not even have clothes to call their own,
And the children are nothing but skin and bone.

Would our thanks to God have more meaning?
Because we have food and plates a-gleaming,
Would we add an extra prayer for those who die
By the thousands ? Or think, “Why should I”

May my prayer rise with the smoke of fires bright
That warm our homes, offer my thanks aright,
By at least pouring out a thought to all this day
Who are not blessed with warmth and food in anyway.

Look at the turkey and the ham and other good things
Look at the happy, healthy faces and the joy that brings,
Then think just for one moment of one child who dies today
For the want of food and water that never came his way.

M Ann Margetson © September 28, 2000
2000/Thanks
Front Page|Achievement, Pain & Sorrow|Animals|Christmas and the Saviour|Family|Temples|Nature|Religion|Pot-Pourri|Service