A Golden Prayer

Dear Lord,
Thank you for 21 years on this Earth. Thank you for the people I’ve come to know and love as my family. Thank you for all the great times, all the memories, the safety, security, and blessings you’ve bestowed upon me over my entire lifetime. Thank you for seeing safe passage for me through this world even before I set foot in it. I’ve celebrated my birthday as of this weekend and on today I want to do nothing else but thank you for all you’ve done for me. Thank you for the strength to make it through situations I saw no way out of. Thank you for the endurance to handle all of life’s toughest moments. Thank you for tears shed and unshed, for the happiness seen and the sadness overcome. Thank you for the ability to think things through and the intelligence to understand that doing the same things will not get you different results. Thank you for health, understanding and deliverance. Thank you for my pain threshold; allowing me to make statements for the people I love that will forever be an expression of your influence. Thank you for the good and the bad examples. Thank you for the courage to realize who to go to for help, and when to ask for it. Thank you for providing it and placing those around to provide it. I remember being afraid to grow old, not knowing what could happen tomorrow, or how I’d handle things unforeseen. But I’ve realized that I don’t mind growing old at all as long as the experiences grow greater. This year will be tough, as will each one that follows, but I just pray that you walk with me and guide me toward the ways that offer the least amount of turmoil. Lead me down the path of joyousness and greatness as a smile on my face will inevitable lead to the smiles of many others. I believe right now that life consists of more than what we can sense. But this life and all its imperfections capture just a taste of what is in store for all of us if we just pass the test. So I shall take notes on what you say to me and call for me to do. I pray for the faith of my mother, the strength of my father, the wisdom of my grandmother, the intelligence of my sisters, the character of my brothers, and the spirit of the children; an optimistic outlook on life with the worry or doubt of a society who’s only goal is to hold them back. I encompass each of these attributes and more because you have blessed me with the attitude to strive for it. And for that, though not enough, I thank you. The first moments of being an adult will forever be close to me as I started them off with those I love, whether they were there in person or not. And as of the golden day, 21 on the 21st, I have started my new path in a conversation with you. Lord, these and all other blessings I ask in your son Jesus’ name, Amen.