Thank God for life (website only)

Thank God for life - for all that is essential:
for food and drink, for everything we need.
Thank God for families, for all who help us,
for human love both offered and received.

Thank God for life - for wonders that surround us:
the miracle of this renewing earth;
complexities that science is unfolding;
the mystery of individual worth.

Thank God for life - for all we have created;
for every art, designs of hand and mind.
Give thanks for skills that lead to new inventions,
all the technologies we’ve yet to find.

Thank God for life - for restlessness of spirit:
for liveliness that challenges, explores;
for those who look at life and strive for better,
rejecting easy answers, wanting more.

Thank God for life – in times of doubt and sorrow
thanks is so hard; it’s easy to complain.
Yet life’s an interweaving: sun and shadow.
It is God’s gift and God shares joy and pain.

Thank God for life - for all that we’ve been given;
for all we are, for all that we can be.
For this rich tapestry, thank God, the giver;
give thanks for God’s great generosity.

Words: Andrew Brown © December 2016

Metre: 11.10.11.10.

Tune: Thank God for life © Jo Beesley Download PDF

Alternative tune: Highwood (StF 3)

Andrew Brown has been a Methodist Local Preacher for forty years and is now based in Yorkshire. He says: “I became interested in writing hymn poems in 2003 and am keen to provide words that question and challenge, while remaining true to the good news of God’s love for each individual.”