Thoughts for November

November—the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word November is Thanksgiving!! November is a special month, as the trees’ leaves finalize their colors and begin to fall from their limbs, as the air gets cooler, the nights get longer, we prepare for the season of Thanksgiving. We will find ourselves throughout the month around tables. So, I share with you this Table Blessing from Kate Bowler’s book, The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days.

a blessing for around the table

God, awaken us to the everyday miracle of a simple meal.

Whether it is take-out that took a phone call,

a recipe that took an entire afternoon,

or the cereal-for-dinner again feeling this meal creates,

bless it all.

So blessed are we, sharing a meal today.

May we recognize God’s goodness in the thoughtful preparation,

in the delivering, in the eating together,

savoring something that tastes like love.

May our time around the table be a gift.

May we be present to one another

engaging all our senses as an act of thankful worship

to the nourishment that’s before us with the people we love. Or are trying to.

God, bless the hands that prepared this,

those with us now, and the ones we wish were.

Bless us, oh God, in all of our eating and cooking and gathering and sharing,

our jokes, talking-with-our-mouths full, and elbows on the table,

may we taste and see the love that multiplies.

Amen.

To keep us centered daily on gratitude throughout “Thanksgiving Month,” I will send a daily prompt for you to consider what you are grateful and to share a daily prayer of thanksgiving through our flocknote emails and on Facebook and Instagram. Please share these prompts and prayers with others.

Gratefully,

Wendy