Thanks: For the Organization and Operation of the Earth

In considering things to be thankful for, there is this we often take for granted: the organization and operation of the earth. “What would this life of ours be like,” asked on writer, “if Chance ruled our destinies? If, for instance⎯Autumn might or might not succeed Summer, Spring might or might not follow Winter. A wary world that would truly be . . . left to the buffeting of an unkown yet all-pervading caprice.”¹ What if there were no air of the right kind in the right quantity, renewing itself for our sustenance; or water, which we sometimes thoughtlessly pollute or waste away; or heat and cold within the right range; or soil and all the processes by which it produced; the sun, the seasons, the renewal of spring, the growing of summer, the harvest of autumn, the dormancy of winter, the endless products and providence of the mountains, the sea, the fields, the forest. “Why should they be a matter of course? What have I, or you, what has any man done that earth should glow with beauty, . . . should hang . . . fruit upon the bending boughs . . .? Surely . . . we might . . . be ready with thankful recognition of a bounty that . . . has gone on supplying [man’s] needs through the . . . ages of the past, and supplies them still.”¹ And not only for the physical organization of the earth, but for loved ones, for life⎯the purpose, the mystery, the miracle of it, the birth of a babe, which give added reason for the reality of eternal continuance, the renewal of resurrection; for it is no greater miracle to have life everlasting than to have life here and now. And so, gratefully we acknowledge the infinite mind of our Maker, and gratefully ought to offer our tithes and offerings, and our earnestly consistent service, in thanks for all that God has given, and keep His commandments in remembrance of the love and providence and purpose of the Creator, the God and Father of us all, the Organizer and Operator of heaven and earth, without whom all these things would not be so. Thank God for all this: for life and what sustains it, for loved ones that make it meaningful, for faith and purpose and continuance, always and forever. Thank God for all of this and much, much more.