Recite These Thanksgiving Prayers to Feel Extra Grateful This Holiday Season
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Everyone knows that the stars of turkey day are the delicious Thanksgiving recipes spread across the table. Granted, they truly are something to be, well, thankful for! But if you're like us, the gratitude doesn't end there. Between quality family time and reflecting on the last 12 months, how could you not count your blessings? There's one Thanksgiving tradition that truly celebrates the meaning of the holiday: saying grace. It's a moment to slow down, express gratitude for the food you're about to eat, and reflect on why we gather on this day. Here, you'll find meaningful Thanksgiving prayers, blessings, and Thanksgiving Bible verses that you can read before dinner with your loved ones.
The prayers on the list touch on bounteous feasts, amazing friends and family, our health, a roof above our heads, and many more things that we can be thankful for. These Thanksgiving quotes are multi-purposeful, too. What do we mean, you ask? Well, you can also use them as a way to prepare for the holiday. For instance, read one with your kids each night leading up to the big day to provide perspective. You might also use these in your cards as Thanksgiving wishes, accompanied by Thanksgiving greetings and gratitude quotes, to spread the love during the holiday. Some are short and sweet Thanksgiving prayers that would even make for meaningful Thanksgiving captions to share online. No matter how you plan to use them, these Thanksgiving prayers, blessings, and sayings are perfect for feeling grateful this holiday season.
Father, We Thank Thee
For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
for all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee.
For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee.
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
for beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee.
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee
For health and food, for love and friends,
for everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thanksgiving Turkey
And already still November
Drapes her snowy table here.
Fetch a log, then; coax the ember;
Fill your hearts with old-time cheer;
Heaven be thanked for one more year,
And our Thanksgiving turkey!
—George Parsons Lathrup
When Giving Is All We Have
We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.
We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.
Giving has many faces.
—Alberto Rios
A Non-Denominational Blessing for the Community
May we join hands around the dinner table to pray for the strength and patience to love one another. May our circle grow with every birth and union into a community united by love, rather than blood. May every hardship make our circle stronger. May it teach us that whenever we reach out in need, our hands will always be clasped in the palms of others.
—Taz Tagore, from Seasons of Thanks
I Thank Thee
I thank Thee, o Thou whose bounty fills my cup with every blessing meet. I give Thee thanks for every drop—the bitter and the sweet. I praise Thee for the desert road, and for the riverside; for all Thy goodness hath bestowed, and all Thy grace denied. I thank Thee for both smile and frown, and for the gain and loss; I praise Thee for the future crown and for the present cross. I thank Thee for both wings of love which stirred my worldly nest; and for the stormy clouds which drove me, trembling, to Thy breast. I bless Thee for the glad increase and for the waning joy; and for this strange, this settled peace which nothing can destroy
—Jane Crewdson
Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
—Psalm 100:4-5
Celebrate the Feast of Thanksgiving
Lord God,
Our hearts are crowded with gratitude
as we celebrate the feast of Thanksgiving.
We have come to this our feasting table
with great joy and eagerness,
for we are truly grateful to you, our God,
for all that we have been given.
We pause now and, in silent prayer,
do thank you for the great generosity of Your gifts.
—Edward Hays
Glorify Hime with Thanksgiving
I will praise God's name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.
—Psalm 69:30
Thankful for His Good Gifts
Most Gracious and all wise God; Before whose face the generations rise and fall; Thou in whom we live, and move, and have our being. We thank thee [for] all of thy good and gracious gifts, for life and for health; for food and for raiment; for the beauties of nature and the love of human nature.
—Martin Luther King Jr.
Thankful for the Day
O Thou, whose hand hath brought us
Unto this joyful day,
Accept our glad thanksgiving,
And listen as we pray.
—Frederick W. Goadby
Thank You, Lord, for Food and Friends
We thank you, Lord, for food and friends, and for all of the joy this holiday lends. It's Thanksgiving Day and we can see the blessings you've provided our family. Thanks to you, Lord, for another good year; When you watch over us, there's nothing to fear.
—Karl Fuchs
Thankful for Love and Mercy
Lord, how can we ever thank You enough? You endured more pain, more shame, more sorrow, more grief than we can possibly fathom. Help us remember why You gave Your life. Because of love. Because of mercy. Because we desperately need them both. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
– Liz Curtis Higgs
Prayer of Thanks
O, heavenly Father: We thank thee for food and remember the hungry. We thank thee for health and remember the sick. We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless. We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved. May these remembrances stir us to service, that thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen.
—Abigail van Buren
A Prayer for Thanksgiving
O God, we thank you for this earth, our home; For the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills and the never-resting winds, for trees and the common grass underfoot. We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of the summer fields, and taste of the autumn fruits, and rejoice in the feel of the snow, and smell the breath of the spring. Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty, and save our souls from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory. O God our creator, Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
—Walter Rauschenbusch
Our Father in Heaven
Our Father in Heaven, we give thanks for the pleasure of gathering together for this occasion. We give thanks for this food prepared by loving hands. We give thanks for life, the freedom 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
On Thanksgiving Day
Heavenly Father, on Thanksgiving Day, we bow our hearts to You and pray. We give You thanks for all You've done, especially for the gift of Jesus, Your Son. For beauty in nature, Your glory we see, for joy and health, friends, and family. For daily provision, Your mercy and care, these are the blessings You graciously share. So today we offer this response of praise with a promise to follow You all of our days.
—Mary Fairchild
Thank You, God
Thank You, God, for the food we are about to eat, for those who are here to share these blessings, for the generosity of our hosts that make this possible. Bless those who are here and those who are in our hearts, and all those who are not as fortunate on this day. Amen.
—Patricia Gore
This Food Is the Gift
This food is the gift of the whole universe: the earth, the sky and much hard work. May we live in a way that makes us worthy to receive it. May we transform our own unskilled states of mind and learn to eat with moderation. May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness. We accept this food so that we may realize the path of understanding and love.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
The Time We Have Together
Our Father, we give thanks for the time we have together to appreciate each other.
We give thanks for your presence which is shared at our table.
We give thanks for your abundant provisions.
We pray your guidance toward paths of righteousness and wisdom.
May our conversation be joyful, edifying and encouraging.
Strengthen us, O God, to share your good news and to serve where you call us.
We pray, humbly, in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
—Madge P. Williams
Catholic Thanksgiving Prayer
Thank you, Father, for having created us and given us to each other in the human family. Thank you for being with us in all our joys and sorrows, for your comfort in our sadness, your companionship in our loneliness. Thank you for yesterday, today, tomorrow, and for the whole of our lives. Thank you for friends, for health, and for grace. May we live this and every day conscious of all that has been given to us.
–From "The Catholic Prayer Book," compiled by Msgr. Michael Buckley
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
—Matthew 6:9-13
For Each New Morning
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
A Prayer of Gratitude
Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings—let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals—and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world. On that day let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and let us earnestly and humbly pray that He will continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist.
—President John F. Kennedy
Be Present at Our Table, Lord
Be present at our table, Lord, Be here and ev'ry where adored, These mercies bless, and grant that we May feast in Paradise with Thee.
—John Cennick
A Thanksgiving Day Prayer
O Lord, with humble hearts we pray
thy blessing this Thanksgiving Day
and ask that at table place,
where grateful folk say words of grace,
that Thou will come to share the yield
thy bounty gave to farm and field.
We pray thy love will bless, O Lord,
each hearth, each home, each festive board;
and that Thy peace will come to stay
where candles glow, Thanksgiving Day.
—Brian F. King
Thanksgiving Prayer
This Thanksgiving, let those of us who have much and those who have little gather at the welcoming table of the Lord. At this blessed feast, may rich and poor alike remember that we are called to serve on another and to walk together in God's gracious world. With thankful hearts, we praise our God who like a loving parent denies us no good thing.
—From Songs of Our Hearts, Meditations of Our Souls: Prayers for Black Catholics, edited by Cecilia A. Moore, C. Vanessa White, and Paul M. Marshall
A Thanksgiving Prayer
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
King David's Song Of Thanksgiving
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.Let the whole world know what he has done.Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.Exult in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord.
—1 Chronicles 16:8–10
A Prayer for the Thanksgiving Feast
For the laughter of the children,
For my own life breath,
For the abundance of food on this table,
For the ones who prepared this sumptuous feast,
For the roof over our heads,
The clothes on our backs,
For our health,
And our wealth of blessings,
For this opportunity to celebrate with family and friends,
For the freedom to pray these words
Without fear,
In any language,
In any faith,
In this great country,
Whose landscape is as vast and beautiful as her inhabitants.
Thank You, God, for giving us all these. Amen.
—Rabbi Naomi Levy
Abundant Blessing
We thank you for the turkey, the gravy, and the dressing.
Dear Lord, this table overflows with Thy abundant blessing.
Let us always be aware that all gifts come from You,
and may we serve Your heavenly will in everything we do. Amen.
—Joanna Fuchs
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