"If the only prayer you say in your entire life is ‘Thank You’, that would suffice."
                                                                                            Meister Eckhart, 13th Christian mystic

One of the first phrases we teach children is thank you. Almost immediately after ‘Mamma’ and ‘Daddy’ and ‘Bye-Bye’, comes ‘thank you.’ There is a certain sweet simplicity to hear a small child, just learning to speak, utter the words that sometimes only a parent can understand…something that sounds like ‘thank you’. While being given a toy, a Cherrio or cracker, to hear the infant’s emerging voice say those words brings pleasure and delight to all around.

Thank you. Simple words, really. We say them all the time….to the person who bags our groceries,  the gentleperson who holds a door as we struggle with things in our hands, our child who passes the milk in the morning, the neighbor who shares some newly picked spring flowers. Thank you. Polite words we learned at a very early age.

But thank you as prayer goes deeper. Thank you as prayer connects us with the on-going love and care of our Creator. Thank you for my life…for my living…for the beauty that surrounds me, for those that stand with me, for the food that is a gift of your earth, for the air, the Sun, the Moon, the water, oh….so many things for which to utter the words "thank you."

What is the place of your gratitude today? What gift has appeared in your life that has surprised you and filled you with wonder? How has the Holy One shown up and taken your breath away today?

The syllables are few, the intention deep. Let us pray.