In the Lord I'll be ever thankful

One of the things that has really struck me about manyof the other community members here is the way in which they reach out to people using poetry.  There is such a depth of knowledge of literature here that people are actually surprisingly willing to share.


A few months back we were using a common Taize chant which invites us to think about what it is to give thanks and rejoice:
 
In the Lord I'll be ever thankful,
In the Lord I will rejoice.
Look to God.  Do not be afraid.
Lift up your voices. The Lord is near.



And so I had a crack at putting my own response into poetry.  I warn you, it is only a first draft, so I hope that where quality is lacking, prayerfulness comes across!

In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful

Thursday 3^rd January – the barn and the vegetable garden

The life of thanksgiving is the greatest

Part of the Christian vocation.  Truly

Being thankful is a skill and an art

And to do it ever the greatest gift.

It is different to rejoice in the Lord

For that is no sacrifice, but simply

Is the only possible reaction

Of the soul to God and his endless love.

Thankfulness is rather a lifting up

Of the soul itself and all around it,

Everything it sees and touches and tastes,

An ultimately worthless offering

In itself.  But the only offering

Worthy of the offering of Jesus

If it opens our eyes, and then our minds,

So that we see and create the kingdom

Of God all around us.  Through thankfulness

We are transformed and burn with the brightness

Of the incarnate Christ.  Our opened eyes

Awake the dormant Christ in the precious

Sacrament of this world.  This Eucharist

Of all creation breathes across the pool

Of our common baptism into the true

Thanksgiving.  God is with us.  Give him voice.

I hope that in my life here, some of the thankfulness I feel comes across in how I interact with the sacrament of this place and those who come here.