Deo Gratias

Yesterday I had some good news which relieved a major anxiety that's been preying on my mind for weeks-- and not a silly or imaginary anxiety, but a very serious and real one. So I want to offer thanks up to the Blessed Trinity this morning, for that and for everything.

For my life. For my dear wife Michelle. For my health. For my job. For my family and friends. For this blog and for everyone who's ever read my writing here and elsewhere.

For all the wonders of the world and the sense of wonder God gives us to appreciate them. For tea and snow and the cinema and jokes and poetry. For the sound of voices in the air, of the whistling of water pipes, and the background music hanging in the air of a supermarket. For the smell of musty books and the scent of pine needles. For old enigmatic pictures in hotel lobbies.

For Christmas. For Halloween. For harmless eccentrics. For nerds. For windswept, rocky beaches on cold days. For an old man's memories and a child's excitement. For decorative pub mirrors and for pubs with open fires. For Star Trek: The Next Generation. For the difference between men and women, between one decade and the next, and between one day and the next. And for all the gifts of Divine Revelation, the lives of the saints, the liturgy, and the infinite riches of the Catholic and apostolic faith.

Oh God, give me an ever-deepening sense of wonder before all your gifts, and let me never cease to feel more and more thankfulness for all the infinite treasury of love you lavish upon us all! Amen.