Meal time prayers are everyday prayers. They are "give us our daily bread" prayers. They are simple prayers of trust and thanks. They are good.
When it comes to food & water - both basic human needs - prayer sometimes gets pushed aside in lieu of hunger or inconvenience or squirrelly little people who have an agenda of their own. Deep down, we know we want to pray. The spirit is willing; the body is weak...and hangry.
Meals mark time for us and give us the reminder to pray. While there's no right way to "say grace", praying at our meals puts me and those at the table into God's world and it allows the entry of God into my world and presents our needs. It's communing with the Spirit and each other over the soup of the day or crackers and bananas.
Peter Santucci authored a booklet called Everyday Meal Prayers - each one served up as a first-course to shape our souls as we eat and drink. He writes, "I want to consider nourishment of my body and soul regularly. I want to make every time I put something in my mouth, to feed myself a holy moment. I want to infuse my life with prayer, with God-presence."
This isn't trying to be legalistic - saying we must pray to be godly or good parents. Instead, it's seeing that eating and praying share the same rhythm. Meal prayers are opportunities for daily moments to connect our body and soul, even sometimes very briefly, with our Creator. Beyond meal time prayers, Peter even penned words to quietly offer when getting a coffee or snack.
Prayer is an amateur activity - no formula required - that we can share with kids at a table. Meredith Miller suggests using a complete the sentence prompt to make a meal time prayer very accessible:
“Let’s name yummy foods! Thank you God for…” Call out foods and when the list runs its course, close with, “We’re so glad you gave us taste buds and all these neat flavors. Amen.”
I thought I'd try one for early elementary children:
"Thank you Jesus for making good food for me to eat. Thank you for filling my tummy and my heart. Bless this food and my family and help us to love others. Amen."
Children's own prayers are often the most authentic, like the one I recorded by three-year-old Jade:
"Dear Jesus, thank you for the food. I love mommy. I love daddy. I love Justin and Caden. I love Stormy and Sunny. And I love myself. Thank you. All done."
How do you approach meal prayers with your family? I'd love to hear if you do one of your own. Together, we can "taste and see that the Lord is good" one bite at a time.
Psalm 107:9 (NIV)
"for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things."