More Thanksgiving Prayers

O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen.

- Samuel F. Pugh


Give me a good digestion, Lord, and also something to digest;
Give me a healthy body, Lord, and sense to keep it at its best.
Give me a healthy mind, good Lord, to keep the good and pure in sight;
Which, seeing, sin, is not appalled, but finds a way to set it right.

Give me a mind that is not bound, that does not whimper, whine or sigh.
Don't let me worry overmuch about the fussy thing called "I."
Give me a sense of humor, Lord; give me the grace to see a joke,
To get some happiness from life and pass it on to other folk.

- Thomas H. B. Webb

Thank You, Thank You, Generous God!

Thank You, thank You, thank You, generous God!
You have injected life with joy, thus we know laughter.
You have dabbed creation with color, thus we enjoy beauty.
You have whistled a divine tune into the rhythm of life, thus we hear music.
You have filled our minds with questions, thus we appreciate mystery.
You have entered our hearts with compassion, thus we experience faith.

Thank You, God, Thaank You. Thank You!

- C. Welton Gaddy

Be present at our table, Lord.
Be here and everywhere adored.
Thy creatures bless and grant that we
May feast in paradise with Thee.

- John Cennick

O God,
who has set us in a world of soaring beauty,
and profound mystery. . .
who has enclosed our years within the eternal context
of fragrant spring mornings,
and sparkling winter nights. . .
who has granted us, over the years,
the lilt of lively companionship,
the provocation of ideas and personalities,
the sheer, clear point of joy
in creating a thing of loveliness,
or of excellence,
the steady, solid support of friendships tried, and tested. . .
we thank you.
Above all we thank you,
for the first flowing of conscience.
We look back,
and we recognize, in ourselves,
the dawning of a conviction that life is not simply
a random series of opportunities and disappointments.
We look back,
and we acknowledge that our life has been a gift,
a gift to be accepted - savoured,
a gift to be lived out,
fully lived out between the twin poles of freedom
and responsibility.

And now we step forward in this freedom and this responsibility.,
Free in the knowledge of how little is really essential.
Responsible in the conviction of how much is desperately needed.
Help us, living God,
to maintain this tension,
this heart-rending,
heart-healing tension.
And in all this grant us grace:
that elusive tenderness
that blesses all it touches,
that lightens every load,
that sings in every song
and dances in every step;
that grace which is the flame of love,
leaping up in our hearts,
and setting our lives afire.

Amen

--Barrie Shepherd - from: Alive Now, May/June 1974)

A Hebrew Blessing

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Eternal King,
Who feeds the whole world with Your goodness,
With grace, with loving kindness, and with tender mercy.
You give food to all flesh,
For Your loving kindness endures forever.
Through Your great goodness, food has never failed us.
O may it not fail us forever, for Your name's sake,
Since You nourish and sustain all living things,
And do good to all,
And provide food for all Your creatures
Whom You have created.
Blesses are You, O Lord, Who gives food to all.

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Aztec Prayer

Lord most giving and resourceful,
I implore you;
make it your will
that this people enjoy
the goods and riches you naturally give,
that naturally issue from you,
that are pleasing and savory,
that delight and comfort,
though lasting but briefly,
passing away as if in a dream.


Heavenly Father, bless us,
And keep us all alive;
There's ten of us for dinner
And not enough for five.

- Anon.


Our Father in Heaven,
we give thanks for the pleasure of gathering together for this occasion. We give thanks for life, the feedom to enjoy it all, and all other blessings. As we partake of this food, we pray for health and strength to carry on and try to live as You would have us. This we ask in the name of Christ Our Heavenly Father.

- Harry Jewell, mid-1900's

Come, Lord Jesus,
Be our guest,
And let Thy gifts to us
Be blest. Amen.

- Anon.


Bless this food and us that eats it.

- Cowboy grace


An Iroquois Prayer

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, with sustains us. We return thanks to the rivers and streams,which supply us with water. We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases. We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters, the beans and squash, which give us life. We return thanks to the bushes and trees, which provide us with fruit. We return thanks to the wind, which, moving the air, has banished diseases. We return thanks to the moon and the stars, which have given us their light when the sun was gone. We return thanks to our grandfather He-no, .., who has given to us his rain. We return thanks to the sun, that he has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of his children.

When turkey's on the table laid,
And good things I may scan,
I'm thankful that I wasn't made
A vegetarian.

- Edgar A. Guest

Got no check books, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks - I got the sun in the mornin' and the moon at night.
- Irving Berlin

More Thanksiving Prayers

Thoughts about Thanksgiving

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
- Henry Ward Beecher

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?
--Erma Bombeck

Thanksgiving: To Whom, For What?
A day of prayer, self-congratulations, or what? When the act of counting one's blessings becomes the habit of counting upon one's blessings. And what the holiday really means.

The Essence of Thanksgiving
A visitor to America from outer space in late November might conclude that we worship the turkey goddess. So what is the deeper meaning of this holiday, with its sometimes conflicting themes?

Thanksgiving: Mirror Unto The Soul of a Nation
"A nation divided cannot stand," said Abraham Lincoln, paraphrasing Scripture. But with a bit of luck, some ordinary patience and understanding, and a touch of grace, it can. Here's how.

More Thanksiving Prayers

Index of Prayers

Thanksgiving Thoughts and Quotations

Books About Prayer and/or Meditation
Current and best selling books about prayer, meditation or spirituality that you might want to add to your library