Well, your favorite monk has been away for some time. Caught up in the busyness of life-going to and fro, supporting, doing the things our ministry requires, family, visits to the doctor…

Yet during all that time, never, ever too busy to stop and look around and look up and give my  eternal thanksgiving to the Lord God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth and all things seen and unseen. I am a small piece of God’s great, great universe in this place where He put me. And here I am so blessed for all He has given me: not the ‘things’ of this world, but rather my family and friends and relatives, my life and health, my church, our ministry…especially, my GOD.

I lift up my hands and voice to praise God for the wonders of creation, His mighty, stupendous act of creating all things in just six days, as the Holy Bible tells us, yes, and by  the power of his spoken word! God created us in his own image; therefore, we bear his image; we are His ‘image bearers.’ Do we act like it?

How beautiful, Lord, how marvelous everything you made that I see all around me. The ancient grass, the herbs and trees, each one different after its own kind…numbering beyond our ability to count them all. Each leaf different, special, and the coming autumn will display the awesome array of colors that only God can do. I look at the beauty in the sky above, and the clouds, the sun and moon, and the stars, and I praise God for all I see and know and sense. Thank you Lord for each and every day and the time and place you have given me. Thank you Lord for each and every drop of rain and snow, each one different than the other, and the grains of sand at the seashore that God knows each one.

I rejoice in the Lord with a thankful heart and bless his holy. almighty name forever. Let us always have the time to give Him our worship, our praise, our joy, our thanks, our all for all he has done, is doing, and will do as it is written. Thank you Lord Jesus for our knowing the truths of the past, for living in the present in You, and for knowing the ‘things to come’ in the near future. Blessed be the name of our GOD, the Father, and the Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, One GOD eternal.

Blessed are You forever and ever.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Amen.