Favorite Thanksgiving Prayers and Traditions...

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving, besides all the great food, is our Thanksgiving Tablecloth!  I spread out a white tablecloth and everyone who has dinner with us or stops by on Thanksgiving signs the tablecloth and records what they are thankful for.  It is a treasure!! I don't have mine out yet...so no photo...but here is an example.

I've also collected a few simple prayers for Thanksgiving. 

My prayer for you this holiday is that your Thanksgiving is filled with warmth, food, good health, family and friends. 

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

Thank you for the food we eat,

Thank you for the world so sweet,

Thank you for the birds that sing,

Thank you God for everything.

Thanksgiving Prayer

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 (1803-1882)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jackie

Thoughts On A Cold, November Missouri Morning...

November.  The Month of Being Thankful.  This gratitude thing is what I try to do all year round.  When I Embrace My Blessings on a daily basis...my life changes. The month of November brings those blessings into the forefront of my thoughts.

This cold morning I saw a thin layer of ice on my deck chairs.  I'm thankful the changing seasons.  Each new season can be seen a new beginning.  As we're about to enter into a busy season of preparing our homes for the holidays and days filled with wrapping gifts and baking I want to take the next few days before Thanksgiving to reflect on my own gratitude.  To Slow Down and take note of my Blessings and to prepare my heart for the Spiritual Journey I will take in the next month with Following The Star: The Advent Devotional.  I invite you to take part in the devotional journey along with me. This year will mark the 3rd time that I have taken this journey during the Advent Season...you won't be disappointed...

A few of my Multitude of Blessings...

~~Knowing I Can Start Fresh This Morning and God's Mercies Are New Each Day~~

~~My Husband Dealing With a Long-Lived Issue and Working So Hard On It...will you pray for him?~~

~~Hearing Kyler, my 4-year Old, Say To His Brother, "Jesus Was On Earth and He Loves Us"~~

~~Celebrating 10 years Of Being a Mom In A Few Days.  One of The Two Best Gifts I've Ever Been Given...Being Kobe's Mom~~

~~Kyler hugging Kobe When We Pick Him Up From School and Hearing Him Say, "I Missed You Big Brother"~~

~~Candle-Light, Conversation with God and Steaming Coffee On A Cold, November Missouri Morning~~

Jackie

**photo - view from my deck on a very cold January morning in 2009.

Saying Grace...

Being Grateful for what I've been given is a central theme in my life. I've come a long way and can look back at things that have happened in the past and recognize that there was a reason. I think God allows situations in our lives to happen so that we will grow in our relationship with Him. It's hard to be grateful sometimes though, isn't it? I could write a lot about this but I'll save it for another time.

I feel like I have a strong personal relationship with God and I'm continuing to grow and learn everyday. However, an area that I haven't been successful in is really sharing that with my boys. I talk about God and hope that I'm modeling my life in a way that shows my love and relationship with Him. But, we're not good about saying prayers before bedtime and saying Grace before meals. I talk to them a lot about being grateful for things and sharing what we have with others and we really do that! But, this one area is what I'm working toward to help grow and strengthen their relationship with God as well.

About Grace...I can write some really poetic prayers sometimes...some deep thoughts about my faith...but I'm not good at speaking prayers out loud. This would be one reason Grace before meals has not happened often. Kobe and I talked about this at dinner the other night and together we came up with the idea to write down short prayers we think of or find and things we're grateful for. As we write these things down we will start adding them to a jar. We're calling it our Gratitude Jar and we will pull out one or more of the slips of paper and read it as our "Grace" before each meal. It's a start...and... something the kids can be involved in as well.



In searching around for some ideas for our Gratitude Jar I found the following sites:

OUR PINATA has a cute idea for a Gratitude Jar.

PRISM, has a really cute idea for a Blessings Jar.


And finally, here are some simple prayers that will be going into our Gratitude Jar. I'd love for you to share any short prayers of gratitude that you say!!

Thank You God

For the golden corn and the apples on the trees

For the butter and the honey for our tea

For fruits and nuts and berries that grow beside the way

For birds and bees and flowers We give our thanks today

Blessings on our meal

And on our family!

The Lord is good to me

and so I thank the Lord

for giving me the things I need

the sun and the rain and the apple seed.

The Lord is good to me.

Amen!

Let us pause before we eat

and think about the ones in need

of food and shelter and of love,

please bless us all dear God above.

Amen.

Thank you for the food we eat,

Thank you for the world so sweet,

Thank you for the birds that sing,

Thank you God for everything.

Thank you, God, for loving me.

Thank you for my family.

Help me to learn more each day

To be kind at work and play.

Amen.

November Gratitude...

Early November. A brief lull before the rush of the Holiday Season begins. A time to think about what we have to be thankful for. I have much thankfulness...Kids..Husband...My Job...My Husbands Business...A Comfortable Home...Abundance of Food...Our Health...I could go on.

I am blessed! But, do you ever feel like there is supposed to be something more? You read all my blessings above...what else could I possibly need? Nothing...Except a closer relationship with God and a clearer vision of where I'm supposed to go with the gifts I've been given. Prayer is always the answer when I have a question. Continued prayer on my part to find the answer and I ask for your prayers to make the vision a little less hazy for me.

This month, as the title of my blog states, I'm going to Embrace My Blessings. I'll be sharing with you the little blessings often overlooked and hopefully big ones too. I will also share some beautiful Prayers of Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving traditions that have inspired me to go on this little gratitude journey during the month of November.

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