You ask me how I know it’s true that there is a living God…

A God who rules the universe, the sky… the sea…the sod;

A God who holds all creatures in the hollow of His hand;

A God who put infinity in one tiny grain of sand;

A God who made the seasons…

winter, summer, fall and spring,

And put His flawless rhythm into each created thing;

A God who hangs the sun out slowly with the break of day,

And gently takes the stars in and puts the night away;

A God whose mighty handiwork defies the skill of man,

For no architect can alter God’s perfect master plan…

What better answers are there to prove His Holy being

Than the wonders all around us that are ours just for the seeing.

-Helen Steiner Rice

If my days were untroubled and my heart always light

Would I seek that fair land where there is no night;

If I never grew weary with the weight of my load

Would I search for God’s peace at the end of the road;

If I never knew sickness and never felt pain

Would I reach for a hand to help sustain;

If I walked not with sorrow and lived without loss

Would my soul seek sweet solace at the foot of the cross;

If all I desired was mine day by day

Would I kneel before God and earnestly pray;

If God sent no winter to freeze me with fear

Would I yearn for the warmth of spring every year;

I ask myself this and the answer is plain…

If my life were all pleasure and I never knew pain

I’d seek God less often and need Him much less,

For God’s sought more often in times of distress,

And no one knows God or sees Him as plain

As those who have met Him on the pathway of pain.

-Helen Steiner Rice

Thank You God, for everything, the big things and the small,

For every good gift comes from God the giver of them all.

And all too often we accept without any thanks or praise,

The gifts God sends as blessings each day in many ways

And so at this Thanksgiving time we offer up a prayer

To thank You, God for giving us a lot more than our share…

First, thank You for the the little things that often come our way,

The things we take for granted but don’t mention when we pray,

The unexpected courtesy, the thoughtful, kindly deed,

A hand reached out to help us in the time of sudden need…

Oh, make us more aware, dear God, of little daily graces

That come to us with sweet surprise from never-dreamed-of places.. .

Then, thank You for the miracles we are much too blind to see,

And give us new awareness of our many gifts from Thee,

And help us to remember that the key to life and living

Is to make each prayer a prayer of thanks

And every day Thanksgiving.

-Helen Steiner Rice

He came to die on a cross of wood, yet made the hill on which it stood.