A Prayer of Thanks for My Family

Father, I can hear them in the other room, the ordinary noise of people who belong to me, and my heart is full in a way I rarely stop to name. Thank You for these particular people You set around my life.

I confess I take them for granted more than I admit. I am sharpest with the ones I love most. I save my patience for strangers and bring my tiredness home to them.

Forgive me for that, and soften me. Thank You for the faces I would know in the dark, the shorthand, the inside jokes, the way someone always knows when I am off before I say a word.

Your word says how good and pleasant it is when people who belong to each other dwell together in unity. Knit us closer than circumstance. Hold us together when seasons try to pull us apart.

Cover the ones who are far tonight, and heal what is strained between us. Where there is distance, build a bridge. Where there is old hurt, begin something new.

These are the people You gave me to love and be loved by. Help me cherish them while they are here. Thank You, Father, for my family. Amen.