11/21/07

God is Great and God is Good

Our family’s song of thanks goes like this:

God is great and God is good
And we thank Him for our food
By His hand must all be fed
Give us Lord our daily bread

This was the family prayer that I learned as a child. Growing up, we sang it around our table of 5. We sang it as we all held hands before sitting down to large family meals. We sang it at weddings and funerals. It was the “Friesen” tradition passed down from generations.

Some would harmonize; some would just carry the melody. We always ended with a long, drawn-out “AH….MEN.”

As a child, I’d sing the words because they were familiar. Now as an adult the song has more meaning, as thankfulness settles deep. My prayer is that my kids will ponder and realize the meaning of the words: God, Thanks, His Hand, Daily Bread.

Although the prayer is short, it has power.

This year we will have a simple Thanksgiving. As we share it with another family, my family plans to teach them our traditional song of Thanksgiving.

God is great and God is good, especially when we focus on the Giver and practice thanksgiving in our hearts every day.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family!

22 comments:

Laura said...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tammy said...

I could just picture being there with your family, holding hands and singing...so beautiful.
Happy Thanksgiving Sandy!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Sandy! Happy Thanksgiving to you from Spokane, WA! We are trying hard to keep healthy to make it to Thanksgiving! My littlest has had the "CRUD"... and we're hoping nobody else gets it! Your last blog on the aspects of Men and Conversation is so right on! My husband so fits this. But he is fairly good at asking questions, we just notice that the men we invite over or are friends with in general don't ask questions back and seem disinterested in him. So unless he keeps asking questions, the conversation dies. hmmmm... doesn't encourage him so much and he gets worn out just thinking about entertaining. Thanks for checking on me once in a while. It is a real encouragement! Susie Pearson

Anonymous said...

Very beautiful prayer! Happy Thanksgiving...

anya* said...

as i am preparing to host dinner this year (my mom is remodeling her home, so i get to step up to the plate), i am trying to remember some of your '10 commandments'. especially #8- i need to be myself when hosting and remind myself of the atmosphere i want my home to have. i may not have unlimited resources to transform my home into a magazine picture- but i can still do something- and my inexpensive apple and pumpkin centerpieces will be lovely;)

have a great thaksgiving sandy!

Donnetta said...

What a wonderful tradition to not only hold dear to your heart, but to also share it with others!

Have a wonderfully blessed time surrounded by friends and family!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

tammi said...

YOU'RE A FRIESEN??????!!!! SO AM I!! Wow, that's too weird! And very cool, of course! At home, we never used recited prayers, but now with our girls we do the "Come, Lord Jesus" one. And then there's the one for whenever we have Kraft Dinner:

We thank you, dear Jesus, for all that we eat, for sun and for rain; for seeds and for meat. We thank you especially for hotdogs and peas, and our most favourite dish, macaroni and cheese!

Hope you have a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving!

GiBee said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

Anonymous said...

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving, Sandy!!

Praise and Coffee said...

Happy Thanksgiving Sandy!

Sue

Heidijayhawk said...

hope you guys have a great thanksgiving!

La Tea Dah said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Sandy. You are the winner of the Gracious Hospitality cross-stitch. If you email me your address, I'll get it sent to you ASAP. My email address is at gmail with the same name as my blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks,
LaTeaDah

OhhMy Gifts & Things said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Sandy! When my children were young, my son was teaching his younger sister this very prayer. She got the whole thing correct til the part "Daily Bread". She would say "Daily Breath", we didn't correct her as we both decided God needed to be thanked for our daily Breath also. She still says it this way til this day and she's 17 now!

Anonymous said...

A very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours...

Lovella ♥ said...

Happy Thanksgiving. As you share all the blessings of the day may you be blessed as well.

Sara at Miller Moments: said...

Would you be related to a Terri Friesen who taught math in Bend OR? I loved her as my math teacher - haven't heard that last name since then! :)

Happy Thanksgiving! May your day with your family be full of precious memories...

Unknown said...

What an inspiring blog you have! This is my first visit and I will definitely be back - thanks!

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality said...

Sandy, hope your Thanksgiving was happy & peaceful with your whole family. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Hugs,
Rhoda

Nadine said...

How lovely the prayer is Sandy. I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving.

Anonymous said...

I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday!

Jill said...

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Sandy. I have that book Graces sitting right her beside me on the desk. I bought it recently...it looked so good. I've not gotten through the whole thing yet, though.

Anonymous said...

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely. The photos of your table are as beautiful as ever. Ours was simple as well and I must say I really enjoyed the simplicity.