Can you share the prayers you use before mealtime? Looking for some inspiration of what to start doing at our dinner table.
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This is a simple prayer for the dinner table if you have kids.
The video has a short repeat-after-me prayer that thanks the Lord for the food and asks Him to bless it. There’s also a line for whoever cooked, which I liked. It’s easy for kids to follow. It might help your family get used to praying together before meals, at least after a while.
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This kind of prayer thanks God for the meal and for the farmers and everyone else who helped get the food to the table. It also remembers people who don’t have enough to eat. I liked the part about slowing down and enjoying the meal, using the prayer as a calm pause before eating. You could use it as is until you feel like putting it in your own words.
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I say the same mealtime prayer. I say: Father, You taught us to ask for our daily bread and tonight You have set it here. We get it as a gift, and we ask that our talk would stay patient when the day has worn us down.
Keeping the words close to a prayer we already know makes it feel like part of the meal. A guest can join in right away. On a rushed night I say the one line about daily bread.
Pick one and say it tonight.
Ours is pretty simple: ‘Lord, thank You for this food and for the people around this table. Bless it to our bodies and us to Your service. Amen.’ I only started praying before meals about a year ago, and the first few times I was nervous. Some nights we go around and everyone names one thing they’re thankful for from the day, then someone closes it out. My kids look forward to that part now. On busy nights we do ‘God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.’ A thirty-second prayer you say beats a nicer one you skip.
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Our mealtime prayer is short and points outward a little: “Father, thank You for this meal. Remember those who are hungry, and show us how to share what You’ve given us. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Even the kids have it down. The part about sharing has started more than one dinner conversation at our table, some longer than we planned on.
When you borrow the daily bread line from the Lord’s Prayer, even a new guest at your table can pray along with you.
The rushed-night version with the daily bread line is SO real, and some nights that one line lands harder than the full prayer.
Nice idea. A lot of the guests would already know the words too.
Thanks for the suggestion.
“Thank you, God, for the world so sweet, thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the birds that sing, thank you, God, for everything, in Jesus’ name, amen”
Give thanks the way Jesus did, even just at dinner to start. It becomes a nice rhythm for your family’s table.
When I thank the Lord for the day and the food, I can feel my heart center expand, this warmth moving out through the whole table. Asking Him to bless the food to our bodies invites divine energy into what we’re about to receive.
Just keep the focus on others.
Asking God to help us remember those who don’t have enough, and to guide us in doing something about it. Try something like, “Thank You for this food, Lord. Help us remember those without, and show us how to help.”
The traditional blessing works fine here. “Bless us O Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen” has been around forever for good reason.
Sometimes the old prayers carry more weight than anything we could come up with on our own.
A year ago I added a line to the end of the traditional blessing: “and may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”
Keep it simple and sincere. That’s what works for us. “Father in Heaven, thank you for this day, thank you for this meal, we ask you to bless it to our bodies, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
Ever just talk to God like a friend? I do. No memorized words, just whatever’s on my heart in that moment.
At our table we do whoever cooks or prepares the food picks who says grace so it’s never the same person giving the same prayer.
We sing ours (Johnny Appleseed tune). “Oh, the Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord.” Started as a way to get the little ones to join in. Now the teenagers belt it out right along with them, half as a joke and half not.
One thing that’s worked well for our family is praying a few lines of Scripture, like Psalm 145:15-16: “The eyes of all look to You and You give them their food in due season… You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” We finish with “thank You, Lord.”
We also remember the farmers and truck drivers who brought the food to us. It helps the kids see how many hands go into one plate.