I have a new addition to my list of "gratefuls" and that is James Taylor's new album, "One Man Band." This is a collection of songs that have been recorded live. In a week that has had both grief and anxiety in it, I need only to turn to James' soothing voice for instant comfort (dare I say more comfort than the mashed potatoes and pie will bring me today?). I highly recommend this album. And I plan to purchase his Christmas album soon as well (and you know when I say "album" I mean "download the MP3 from Itunes).
Today, dear readers, I share with you a really lovely Thanksgiving poem by Robert Louis Stevenson that my mom passed on to me:
"Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank thee for this place in which we dwell;
for the love that unites us;
for the peace accorded us this day;
for the hope with which we expect the morrow;
for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth, and for our friendly helpers in this foreign isle.
Let peace abound in our small company.
Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge.
Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere.
Offenders, give us grace to accept and to forgive offenders.
Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others.
Give us courage, gaiety and the quiet mind.
Spare to us our friends,
soften to us our enemies.
Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours.
If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be
brave in peril,
constant in tribulation,
temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death,
loyal and loving one to another.
As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind,
as children to their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy for Christ's sake."
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