What Should I Pray for Thanksgiving?

If you have a family that doesn't eat very often together usually Thanksgiving is the one time a year when families can get together. People fly in from out of town, others who don't cook that often pull out their imaginary skills (note I said imaginary), those who CAN cook pull out all the stops, and the guys... get to watch football on a Thursday. What better day for families to come together?

There is a time however when the football must be turned off, the cooking must cease, and everyone must come to the table at the same time and eat the meal together. Typical of Thanksgiving Day dinners is the Thanksgiving prayer. Usually it's done by the matriarch or patriarch of the family, but if not, then whoever desires to do it can do it. You may be wondering what to say for this prayer; it's not very hard at all.

Here are some steps to consider if you're preparing for the Thanksgiving prayer:

1. Pray from the heart. There's no need for flowery words or elegance of speech when you're praying, just pray what comes from the heart. It may sound simple, it may not sound very organized, but that doesn't matter... it's all about what you're thankful for.

2. Don't be nervous. Prayer is a conversation between you (or you and everyone else) and God. You don't have to worry about anything, just talk to Him. He wants to hear from you.

3. Be sure to give thanks. Giving this is Thanksgiving take part of the time to actually give thanks for something. You don't have to a complete rundown but maybe highlight a few things, and you may want to have everyone at the table chime in on this part of the prayer.

4. Pray for those in need. Everyone isn't as fortunate to have a home-cooked meal and a warm house to have Thanksgiving in.

5. Bless the food. After all is said and done, pray over the food.

So here's what my prayer might look like:

God, we thank you for gathering us here today on this Thanksgiving. We're thankful for life, we're thankful for family, we're thankful for friends, and we're thankful for our health and strength. God, bless those who aren't able to enjoy Thanksgiving as we are today. There are some who are homeless and who don't know where their next meal is coming from, we know that you will provide for them and we pray that they too will find something to be thankful for even in the worst of situations.

God, there is so much you've done for us and though we should be thankful everyday we want to acknowledge that it's because of you that we're able to enjoy these things, so we say thank you for these blessings. Now bless this food that has been prepared for us, let it be strength and nourishment for the body and help us to enjoy this time of food and fellowship together. In Jesus' name, we pray... amen.