Mealtime Prayers

Sitting on my grandmother’s old pine table at the lake house is a wooden prayer cube. Mia bought it years ago on a trip to Santa Fe. It looks like a dice (die?) and on each side is a mealtime prayer.

I love the prayer cube and the encouragement it brings to the family dinner table.

I found smaller cubes—tiny ones—via a google search. On a whim I ordered several boxes last year. I laughed when my order arrived and realized I miscalculated the number of cubes in each box. Let’s just say I had plenty ‘o prayer cubes. For the past year, I’ve given the prayer cubes away one by one. Not really as presents, just as a little sumpin’ sumpin‘. These prayer cubes have kind of become my thing.

I’m down to my last three prayer cubes. I’m sure I’ll get around to ordering more in the new year, but it got me thinking how I wish I could give each and every one of you a mealtime prayer cube.

As I was mulling over a grand plan to magically send hundreds of two-inch wooden cubes far and wide, I realized I have another stash. I collect prayers. I find them in the most likely and unlikely of places. I copy the prayers in my journal, dog-ear them in books, paste them in Pages on my iPad, and file them in various folders in multiple desk drawers. Most of the prayers are mealtime blessings, but not all, and they come from a wealth of cultures and denominations. Some are seasonal, some for specific feasts or holidays. Many are efficient, short on words, but big on praise and petition.

In related news, I have years of photographs filling up gigamegawatts on my computer. I have great intentions of organizing, editing, and doing something with all these photos. One day.

All this mulling and scheming led me to the only logical conclusion. Take my favorite photos and pair each one with a prayer. I’ll create a simple image and post Mealtime Prayers here weekly.

Mealtime Prayers will be my little gift that you can pin, print, and pray. You can share Mealtime Prayers with friends, memorize them, or just add a little variety to your family dinner prayers.

I’ll post the first Mealtime Prayer tomorrow. And then every Friday!

Merry Christmas, friends.

Love,