35 Best Thanksgiving Prayers to Recite During Dinner

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have bestowed on my life.

You have provided me with more than I could ever have imagined. You have surrounded me with people who always look out for me. You have given me family and friends who bless me every day with kind words and actions.

They lift me up in ways that keep my eyes focused on you and make my spirit soar.

Also, thank you, Lord, for keeping me safe.

You protect me from those things that seem to haunt others.
You help me make better choices and provide me with advisors to help me with life’s difficult decisions.
You speak to me in so many ways so that I always know you are here.

And Lord, I am so grateful for keeping those around me safe and loved.

I hope that you provide me with the ability and sense to show them every day how much they matter.
I hope that you give me the ability to give to them the same kindness they have provided to me.

I am extremely grateful for all of your blessings in my life, Lord.

I pray that you remind me of just how blessed I am and that you never allow me to forget to show my gratitude in prayer and returned acts of kindness.

Thank you, Lord.

—Kelli Mahoney

For the expanding grandeur of creation, worlds known and unknown, galaxies beyond galaxies, filling us with awe and challenging our imaginations: We give thanks this day.

For this fragile planet earth, its times and tides, its sunsets and seasons: We give thanks this day.

For the joy of human life, its wonders and surprises, its hopes and achievements: We give thanks this day.

For our human community, our common past and future hope, our oneness transcending all separation, our capacity to work for peace and justice in the midst of hostility and oppression: We give thanks this day.

For high hopes and noble causes, for faith without fanaticism, for understanding of views not shared: We give thanks this day.

For all who have labored and suffered for a fairer world, who have lived so that others might live in dignity and freedom: We give thanks this day.

For human liberty and sacred rites; for opportunities to change and grow, to affirm and choose: We give thanks this day.

We pray that we may live not by our fears but by our hopes, not by our words but by our deeds. We give thanks this day.

—O. Eugene Pickett

Thank You, Lord God, for this food we are about to eat. Thank You for the hands that have prepared it, for those sitting around the table who are here to share it, and for the ability to be here together under one roof, and enjoy these blessings at Your hand.

We realize that everything we have comes from You and for that we are eternally grateful. We also thank You for what we don’t have this year, for we trust that You have withheld in Your goodness and out of Your protection for us.

Thank You that Scripture says You are a Good Father who loves to give gifts to Your children. We sit here as evidence of Your goodness. Thank You for the gift of today and all who are here to share it with us.

In the name of Your Son, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

—Cindi McMenamin

Dear Lord, help me when I start letting details of the holidays, annoying frustrations, or unmet expectations distract me from all the reasons I have from You to be abundantly and eternally grateful.

Help me have a heart full of thankfulness every day, but especially on the specific day set aside to be grateful for You.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

—Tracie Miles

Omnipotent and eternal God, You watch over your children, with your tender and loving care.

I thank you this day for your mercy and grace. I am grateful for your healing power, and for the abundant blessings you have given me.

But most of all, I am thankful for the promise of salvation, given through your Son, our Lord.

Through him, when all is completed, there will be no more sickness or pain.

I pray in his name.

—David Bennett

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

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

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

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, 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

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

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

I will praise God's name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.

—Psalm 69:30

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.

O Thou, whose hand hath brought us

Unto this joyful day,

Accept our glad thanksgiving,

And listen as we pray.

—Frederick W. Goadby

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

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

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

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, 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