2011 Thanksgiving altar table display by Kim Evans for Community United Methodist Church in Debary, FL.

For centuries, Christians have been reading scripture, followed by a time of reflection and prayer. This year, I found the following scripture especially poignant for Thanksgiving Day. I pray it will draw you into a deep time with our Lord, the One who so faithful provides. Consider using this for a time of reflection at your holiday celebration. Happy Thanksgiving! – Lisa <><

Deuteronomy 8:7-10 (NRSV)
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.

Take a moment to name God’s blessing and provision in your life.

Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17-18a (NRSV)
Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery… Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” But remember the Lord your God…

How have you neglected to thank God or give God credit?
What steps will you take to correct this?

Close with a prayer of confession and thanksgiving, trusting in God’s grace for forgiveness and new life.

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For more thoughts on gratitude, click here

You are welcome to use this in your ministry setting or home with proper attribution. (by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, http://www.revlisad.com) Please leave a comment for information on publishing this resource in any form.