Thanksgiving For All

Notwithstanding all that I

have suffered, notwithstanding all the pain and weariness and anxiety and sorrow 

that necessarily enter into life, 

and the inward errings 

that are worse than all, 

I would end my record 

with a devout thanksgiving 

to the great Author of my being. 

For more and more 

am I unwilling to make my gratitude to Him what is commonly called

“a thanksgiving for mercies”—

for any benefits or blessings that are peculiar to myself, 

or my friends, or indeed to any man. 

Instead of this, 

I would have it to be gratitude 

for all that belongs to my life and being,—

for joy and sorrow, 

for health and sickness, 

for success and disappointment, 

for virtue and for temptation, 

for life and death;

because I believe that 

all is meant for good.

                   - Orville Dewey