Prayers of thanksgiving bring to the foreground what is usually in the background. They are acts of focused attention on the white paper without which we would not notice the black dot. They remind us that without the dominance of kindness we would be indifferent to cruelty. Without faithfulness we would be unmoved by betrayal. Around us everywhere, flooding us with its light, is the dazzling goodness of creation — order instead of chaos, diversity not monotony, the brilliant colors and intricacy of the natural world and the hundred acts of human grace for every one of gracelessness.

Jonathan Sacks, Celebrating Life