A Thanksgiving Prayer for Family
For the table, the people around it, and the empty chair
SaveThanksgiving tables are rarely as calm as the pictures. Someone is running late, the gravy needs stirring, an old argument sits just under the surface, and there may be a chair that nobody wants to look at this year.
This prayer is for all of it: the people you love, the ones who are hard to love, and the ones you miss. Pray it before the day, or read it aloud at the table. Below it is a short grace for the meal and ten King James verses about giving thanks.
The prayer
Lord,
Thank You for the people You've given me. Not perfect people, but mine. Thank You for every year we've had together, for the meals and the laughter and the hard seasons we made it through with You.
Bless this table and everyone who sits at it. Where there is tension, bring peace. Where there are old hurts, soften our words. Help us listen more than we talk, and be quick to forgive.
Be near to the ones who are far away this year, and comfort every heart that is missing someone at the table. Let the empty chair remind us of Your faithfulness, not only of our loss.
Teach my children and grandchildren to give thanks, not only today but every day. Let our home be a place where Your name is spoken with love.
Whatever this year has held, it ends in Your hands. We are grateful.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
How to pray it
- Pray it once on your own the week before Thanksgiving, and name each person at your table.
- On the day, read the short grace below before the meal, or ask one of the children to read it.
- Go around the table and let each person say one thing God did for them this year.
- If someone is missing, say their name. It's all right to be thankful and sad on the same day.
Free printable: 7 Nights of Peace
Seven bedtime prayers and seven KJV promises for anxious hearts. We'll email it to you, along with a short prayer and KJV verse every morning at 6 AM Eastern.
One short email a day. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy
A short grace for the Thanksgiving meal
Grace: Psalm 107:1 (KJV)
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Pray: Lord, thank You for this food, for the hands that made it, and for every person at this table. Make us grateful all year long. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Ten KJV verses about giving thanks
1. Psalm 100:4-5 (KJV)
4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
The classic Thanksgiving psalm. Read it aloud before the meal.
2. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
In everything, not only the good things. A verse for the hard year too.
3. Psalm 103:2 (KJV)
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Make a slow list of what God has done this year, and don't forget one.
4. Colossians 3:15 (KJV)
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Let peace rule at the table, and be thankful.
5. James 1:17 (KJV)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Every good thing on the table, and around it, came from Him.
6. Psalm 126:3 (KJV)
The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Name the great things God did for your family this year.
7. Philippians 4:6 (KJV)
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Bring the worries to God with thanksgiving, not instead of it.
8. Psalm 136:1 (KJV)
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
His mercy endureth for ever. Good for a call-and-response with children.
9. Psalm 118:24 (KJV)
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Today, with all its noise, is a day the Lord has made.
10. Psalm 95:2 (KJV)
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
Come before Him with thanksgiving, even if the turkey is late.
Gratitude is easier at a full table, and harder when the year has been heavy. Either way, giving thanks is how we turn toward God before the busy weeks of December. Advent begins on November 29, three days after Thanksgiving. If you'd like a quiet guide for those weeks, The Light Is Coming gives you one KJV reading and one short prayer for each morning of Advent, about ten minutes a day.
Go deeper
The Light Is Coming: 25-Day KJV Advent Devotional & Prayer JournalTen quiet minutes with Jesus each morning until Christmas, without the December rush crowding Him out.
See inside · $9