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closeOn Faith: Thanksgiving prayers around the table
Alfred Gunn
On Faith
A message on my cousin’s kitchen dining area wall, where prayers are offered over meals, says, “There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.”
I learned a lesson from a man of faith with whom I worked this year when he confided that, in his personal prayers each morning, he makes it a practice to express gratitude for at least 10 blessings received.
Here’s hoping this Thanksgiving finds you together with family, surrounded by friends, counting your blessings, and remembering why the day was created and to whom we have particular reason to be thankful.
In a historic proclamation issued by George Washington during his first year as president, he set aside “A Day of Publick (sic) Thanksgiving and Prayer ... to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.”
There were Thanksgiving observances in America both before and after Washington’s proclamation, but this was the first by the new national government, designating a Thursday in November “to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be — that we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks.”
In trying to strengthen the followers of Christ, the Apostle Paul counsels us to pray without ceasing and “in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God ... ” (1 Thess. 5:17-18).
To me, it’s a wonderful thing that the Eternal God, under whose hand the heavens and earth were created, invites us to approach Him in prayer and to address Him as “Father.”
We are His children and should feel a deep reverence and love as we speak with our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ.
We may approach Him in private, as a child at bedside, or over a bounteous Thanksgiving dinner table, as family and friends.
Our own children learned to pray in the home, and I remember one dinner at the home of fellow church members when our oldest daughter, probably 5 or 6 at the time, eagerly volunteered to pray at the meal.
As she prayed, she gave thanks for mommy and daddy, her sister and brother by name, and then, not remembering the names of the host family members, she nodded her head toward each one of them and said, “and” nod, “and” nod, “and” nod.
I think our Heavenly Father is pleased when we pray for others more than ourselves, and with the faith of a little child. My daughter’s prayer was personal and meaningful.
I like what Mark Taylor said, writing about Thanksgiving for The Federalist: “Let us always approach our Heavenly Father as our Founders did, with true thankfulness — not just today, but every day — not only in our triumphs, but also in our trials — by acknowledging our utter dependence on Him for protection and guidance, for in Him, we live and love and have our being. As our forebears remembered with every prayerful word of gratitude, even self-reliance is, at its root, reliance on Him.”
That is wise counsel.
Finally, looking forward to Christmas, let me make you aware that “Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God,” a new seven-part documentary produced by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute and the Brigham Young University College of Religious Education, will premiere at 6 p.m. Dec. 6, on BYU Television, Comcast Channel 232.
Filming of this stimulating series on Jesus Christ was done on site in Israel, Egypt and Denmark, as well as in studio (See Messiah.byu.edu or byutv.org for the schedule).
I expect it will help us appreciate the Lord even more.
May the Lord’s richest blessings be with you and your families at this Thanksgiving and Christmas season.