O God, we thank you for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thornbush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
A wonderful prayer that expresses my feelings exactly. There is nothing more beautiful than God’s creation including humans. We have allowed ourselves to devalue human beauty and in particular the human body. When we return to appreciating all things as it was in Eden, in the very beginning, then we can call ourselves true children of God. There are those who would have us thinking otherwise, but not me. Maybe being artistic helps me but the bible I read says that I am correct in my thinking. We have made sex between committed partners something less than beautiful and the wonderful and God given gift it is. I learned when I married to really appreciate my body and that of my husband. True love does that for a person and I feel so very sorry for those that cannot love their body and that of their spose as a God given gift. I want to add my prayer of Thanksgiving for the human body as one of the createst gifts from our Creator. When I gaze at my loved one I desire the touch and feel of that beautifully created body. When you make love to a partner it is not “lust” or should not be. The sexual act is that of pure LOVE and not lust. That partners body is so beautiful and so loved, or should be. Look and touch that beautiful body God gave you as a partner and be thankful to God for all things human. Our concept of God should not contain unlovely thoughts or actions for anything God created. Thanks be to God for love and partners.