Lord, I'm Grateful!

Lord, I'm grateful

For the multitude of blessings

That over the course of my lifetime

You have sent my way

And Lord, though I  think it

"I'm grateful" are not actual words

I often say.

From the time that I was a

Toddler sitting on her knee

My mother taught me to be thankful

For everything given to me.

"Thank you" and "Please" were words we knew to use -

To not do so was not to be tolerated

And was not something that my momma easily excused.

But when I think back on my life

I think that my "Thank you" was meant for

A particular act and time

And though I would hold the glow

Within me for quite a long while

Because of a service done for me

I rarely repeated a "Thank you" for

My philosophy was that new "Thank you's" go

With new acts, you see.

But to show that I was appreciative I

Would do and say kind things

Even to strangers that I would meet

Because I remembered that my momma

Told me that, "You reap what you sow."

And I equated nice things done for me

To things I had done and said a while ago.

I tried to be a Christian in my daily walk

Even if I were mistreated or put down

I tried to respond to others with kind talk.

You see, I remembered that Momma said

That Jesus died for me

And because He did such a loving thing

I try to show my gratitude by loving His people, humanity.

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Today, I felt the need to express my gratitude to the Lord for all of the things that He has done and continually do for me because of His love. It is a good thing to be grateful, a better thing to say it and an even better thing to show it.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones