What blessings do you say at dinner?

[trimomma]

We have one or two blessings that we say at dinner and I was hoping to have a few more to choose from. They may or may not be Christian-based.

Anyone mind sharing their favorite blessings?

[HollyBearsMom]

My son made this one up when he was about 2 and we still say it today.

Dear Lord, thank you for the food we eat and the doggies at our feet. God bless xyz (changes each night). Amen

[koru]

we sing "johnny appleseed" a lot. obviously, i can't email the tune but here are the words...

oh the lord's been go to me
and so i thank the lord
for giving me the things i need
the sun & the rain & the appleseed
the lord's been good to me

this is followed by some lively "amens" with clapping & table drumming. the girls love it!

i just found this link if you want to see the music or listen to the tune. it doesn't include the lively "amens," thought...

[green]

We do the johnny appleseed song (I didn't know the name of it), we also do

Earth who gives to us this food
Sun who makes it ripe and good
Dear Earth, Dear Sun
Joy and love for all you've done.

or our last option is

God is great
God is good
Let us thank him for our food
and each other, amen

[warriorprincess]

Come Lord Jesus, Be our guest.
And let this food to us be blest
Blessed be God who is our Bread
May all the world be clothed and fed

[hahamommy]

Our family's favorite:
It is a Blessing to Be,
It is a Blessing to Be Here,
It is a Blessing to Be Here, Now
It is a Blessing to Be Here, Now, Together

We use it often, not just for mealtimes, but anytime we need the affirmation

~diana

[kellers1384]

Originally Posted by warriorprincess

Come Lord Jesus, Be our guest.
And let this food to us be blest
Blessed be God who is our Bread
May all the world be clothed and fed

my husband's family always says this before dinner, although shorter and with slightly different words.

Come Lord Jesus, Be our guest,
And may our daily food be blessed.

I like the additional lines...maybe I will happen to mention this to my husband's grandfather, who makes all such family decisions.

[sebarnes]

We say something different every meal. Asking for a blessing on the food and saying thanks are always included, but various other things are said depending on what the sayer feels. Our religion discourages rote prayers, so we try to think of blessings at meals the same as the prayers we say at morning and night; changing as circumstances change.

[Jennbee]

My daughter says our Prayer of Thanksgiving in the Ojibway language. She learned it at daycare, and I still can't remember all of it. She had been going to daycare for about 2 months when she finally decided to say it with the other kids. She's a good listener but doesn't always speak up.

[lizabird]

dh started saying "We are grateful to the universe for..." and now ds has taken it over and usually says he's grateful for "...yummy stuff!" So we just go around the table and each say a thing or two for which we are grateful.

[mamasaurus]

We sing:

Earth who gives to us this food
Sun who makes it ripe and good
Dearest Earth and Dearest Sun
Joy and love for all you've done.

(then we hold hands and say):

Blessings on the meal and Peace on the Earth.


A side note: Whenever we have a spill, we say, "Blessings on the spill!" Someone taught us this, and it sure cuts down on the, "Oh, NO! What a mess! I can't believe I/you did this! Ack! Get a towel!" Instead, the whole spill becomes nothing and simply gets cleaned up instead of turning into a big to-do.

[ani'smama]

Come Lord Jesus be our guest and let thy gifts to us be blessed. Amen.

[huskermommy]

This is neat! I always have a hard time w/this!

We sometimes do Hi/Lo where each person gives a Hi point and a Lo point to their day after or during the meal. We usually do the "Come Lord Jesus..." before dinner but I'm always looking for variety!

[katarn]

our church prints a list of prayer needs of people fighting cancer and people who need a home.. various things.. in the bulleting each week.. so we cut out each request then but them in a covered basket.

each night i open the basket and ds (20 mo.) picks one out.. then we pray that person that their need would be met and then thank God and ask God to bless the meal.

[tatermom]

One of our family blessings when I was growing up was:

Thank you, God, for happy hearts, for rain and sunny weather
Thank you for the food we eat and that we are together.
Amen.

[ELKMama]

Our "normal" routine is to each say what we are thankful for early in the meal. We've been doing it only 2 months but ds (3.5) always says "Mommy, what are you thankful for?" as soon as I am seated. Very sweet!

We also do the Johnny Appleseed blessing, with Earth substituted for Lord. And I am starting to teach a sung blessing that goes:
Let us give thanks for the food that we share.
Let us give thanks for people who care.
Food fills the body and love makes us whole.
Let us give thanks, deep down in our soul.

Thanks to everyone for sharing. It is fun to see these.

[J-Max]

We hold hands and say the tradition catholic grace

Bless us our Lord and these, thy gifts,
which we are about to recieve,
from Thy bounty,
through Christ our Lord, AMEN!

[lawgrrl]

Earth, who gave to us this food,
Sun, who made it ripe and good,
Dear Earth, Dear Sun, by you we live,
Our loving thanks to you we give.

[ledzepplon]

Originally Posted by Jessmcg

We hold hands and say the tradition catholic grace

Bless us our Lord and these, thy gifts,
which we are about to recieve,
from Thy bounty,
through Christ our Lord, AMEN!

Us, too.

[moondiapers]

God is great and God is Good and
We thank Him for our food.
By His hand all must be fed
We thank the Lord for our daily bread.
Amen

or

Bless us oh Lord and these thy gifts
which we are about to receive
from thy bounty through Christ our Lord.
Amen

or

a nature poem that we're learning that week.