We Give Thee but Thine Own, ELW 686 & LBW 410
1 We give thee but thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be;
All that we have is thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from thee.
2 May we thy bounties thus
As stewards true receive,
And gladly, as thou blessest us,
To thee our first-fruits give.
3 Hearts still are bruised and dead,
And homes are bare and cold,
And lambs for whom the Shepherd bled
Are straying from the fold.
4 To comfort and to bless,
To find a balm for woe,
To tend those lost in loneliness,
Is angels’ work below.
5 The captive to release,
The lost to God to bring,
To teach the way of life and peace –
It is a Christlike thing.
6 And we believe thy word,
Though dim our faith may be:
Whate’er we do for thine, O Lord,
We do it unto thee.
Devotion
We give thee but thine own, whatever the gift may be. This month we celebrate Thanksgiving, and this has always been one of my favorite months. I grew up in a family with thirteen children, and Thanksgiving was always a huge production of cakes, pies and, oh yeah, there was that turkey thing too. The highlight was always that we had much to be thankful for. I will always honor my father and mother for teaching us that life was not about us but living in service to God. What we give to God is simply a return on what God has graciously done for us.
Prayer
We give you but thine own, whatever the gift may be. All that we have is thine alone, a trust, O God from thee. Amen.