If you find yourself in need of writing a prayer for your Thanksgiving Dinner you are welcome to use these as a format. In 2006 everything was fine within our family and my wife's family. By 2009 we had been hit with some illnesses. By 2010 one of us had died. In all of this tragedy, I tried to have everyone look to God for all the good that is in life.
Thanksgiving 2006
Dear Lord,
We come to this table today to give you thanks. Not so much thanks in celebration of a meal eaten 400 years ago by our ancestors and the Indians of this land, but thanks for the life which you have given us.
We ask that you come and join us in this meal which you have so graciously given us. Please fill us with your holy spirit, bestow your grace upon us, and let us enjoy the true peace which only you can give.
Open our eyes oh Lord and let us see all the blessings you have given us and all the blessings you still have in store for us. May we take them into our arms and into our hearts and find your true peace and happiness on this earth.
Please open our eyes oh Lord and let us see.
And everyone said Amen.
Thanksgiving Dinner 2010
Dear Father,
We come here today to give you thanks.
We thank you for this bountiful meal which you have provided for us.
We thank you for your son Jesus Christ who lived and died for us so that some day we may stand before you with him at our side so we may enter your gates, dine at your table and spend eternity with you in heaven.
We thank you for life itself, because every breath we breathe is a gift from you. This year we have traveled on the pendulum of life and covered the full spectrum of emotional highs and lows it offers. We have welcomed new life into this family, witnessed many new beginnings, and bid farewell to a brother and a father.
For us it is hard to see through the clouds of life but as long as we have breath, we have purpose. We ask that you open our hearts so we can feel your presence, open our ears so we can hear your voice and help us find our purpose so we may live our lives in a way that is pleasing to you.
We ask that you come down and dine with us today Father. We ask that you fill us with your Holy Spirit, bestow your grace upon us and pour your blessings over us. We are your children and we want and need the Love, the Peace, the Healing and the Happiness that only you can bring into our lives.
And we ask all this in the name of your son Jesus Christ.
And all God’s children said: Amen.