Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord!

This past Saturday, I braved the elements and went to the St. Louis Perpetual Adoration Chapel for an hour with Jesus in His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. While I was there, I tried what I like to call "The Joanna Method" of prayer. What I mean by that is this: when we say our night-time prayers before we go to bed at night, we all say something for which we are thankful from the day. When it comes to Joanna's turn, she is thankful for EVERYTHING - puppies, pictures, walls, doors, you name it and she has probably covered it!!! Of course, part of her motive for doing this is to prolong the prayer time so as not to have to go to bed. But it is so sweet, and it is a beautiful reminder for me of just how much our Lord gives us, and how dependent we are on Him for literally everything.

So, while sitting before our Lord (I just couldn't kneel the whole hour, sorry), I tried this method, with the added twist of not simply naming things but really thinking about why I would be thankful for such a thing. I started with the obvious: "Thank You for buildings, Lord; it's really cold out today, and buildings are a wonderful way to keep warm." I went on through all the things that I could remember that Joanna is usually thankful for: doorknobs (which made me remember a quote from a Vietnam vet who was a prisoner of war: "There is no such thing as a bad day when there is a doorknob on the inside..."), windows (how nice it is to be in a warm building and still be able to enjoy the beauty of the snow), as well as flowers, carpets, colors, etc. I added a few things that she does not normally think of (members of my family, being thankful for each one in turn; Jesus in the Eucharist, although to her credit Joanna has named this before; the whole set-up of the Church and the ministries that she promotes that Jesus left behind for us to know His love; etc.) I spent most of the hour engaged in this "specified thankfulness" prayer. It was actually very spiritually uplifting; so I wanted to recommend it to anyone who has never thought of trying it.

Have a great day!