Prayer of Thanksgiving - Could You Afford It?

I found this prayer in a Boy Scouts all faith service bulletin while decluttering my Scout files. I tried to find the author online to give credit and saw it edited to be a Thanksgiving prayer and it had a bit more religion in it. Here is that version.

Could You Afford It?


Suppose God charged us for the rain

or put a price on a songbird's sweet strain

of music, or the dawn-mist on the ground.

How much would our autumn landscapes cost,

or a window etched with winter's frost,

and the rainbow's glory so quickly lost?

Suppose that people had to pay

to see the sunset's crimson play

and the magic stars on the Milky Way.

Suppose it was twenty dollars a night

to watch the pale moon's silvery light,

or watch a gull in graceful flight.

How much I wonder, would it be worth

to smell the good, brown, fragrant earth

in spring? Or to see the miracle of birth?

How much do you think people would pay

for a baby's laugh at the close of a long day?

Suppose God charged us for them I say!

Suppose we paid to look at the hills,

for the rippling mountain rills,

or the mating song of the Whippoorwills,

or the curving breakers of the sea,

for grace, and beauty, and majesty?

How much would you be willing to pay

to have God's love enter our lives?

Or to have someone to love us here?

And to think, all of these things

and many more

GOD GIVES TO EACH ONE OF US FREE!


May each one of us, on this Thanksgiving Day, give thanks to our God for all the things He allows us to see and hear that are free. Let us truly count our blessings!

May your Thanksgiving be filled with family, friends, good food and the spirit of thankfulness.