“I give thanks to you, my Sweetness, my Honor, my Confidence.
My God.
“I give thanks to you for your many gifts.
“You have preserved them for me.
“And you will preserve me as well,
and what you have given me will grow and reach perfection.
“And I will be with you.
“For this too is your gift to me:
that I exist.”
—Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 1:20 (31)