Post-Christmas Thank You Note

by Vernita Kennen

It’s after the Christmas holiday season and many people are sending thank-you notes for gifts. My mother taught me that notes should be written promptly, should specifically mention the gift, and perhaps include how the gift will be used. After recently re-reading Anne Lamott’s book Help, Thanks, Wow and considering the gifts I have received, here is a thank-you note I’ve been working on -- to God!

- God, I thank you for ALL! I have again been reminded this Christmas season of the great gift of your son, Jesus. Allowing Jesus to come to live among us as another human being and experiencing life as I do makes his life, death, and resurrection more real and meaningful for me.

- God, I thank you for the abundance in my life. I am blessed to have family, friends, good health, a warm home in a safe community, more than enough food for each day, meaningful ways in which to be in relationship with others, and freedoms which many others in the world do not have.

- God, I thank you for making me aware of the needs of others. I ask that you continue to open my eyes to those places in which the gifts with which you have blessed me might be used with and for those who need my time, my voice, my support, and my monies. Make my world view as small as my block but as wide as each continent on which your children live.

- God, I thank you for these winter days which are very gradually lengthening. The dark, cold, and snow keep us curled up inside more often but also allow our bodies and minds to be more focused and thoughtful. Inspire me for the brighter days ahead in the year and give me new and fresh ideas of ways to spread your good news in both word and action.

- God, I thank you for ALL! I find I cannot begin to enumerate today all the things for which I am grateful. Make me always more aware that all comes from you and that you are counting on me to share that abundance. Direct, encourage, and nudge me in this New Year.

Your grateful daughter,

Vernita Kennen