As we sat down to dinner, I asked, \u201cWould anyone like to say grace?\u201d Surprisingly,
Joe, eight years old, excitedly volunteered, \u201cI will!!\u201d to which I said, \u201cOK, go ahead,
then.\u201d He stood up at the table and raised his voice, \u201cGrace! Thank you for this meal!
Thank you for my family and our new neighbors who just moved in next door. We are so
happy to meet and have this great feast together and eat all this good food and
dessert!\u201d
What a terrific declaration! I never would have imagined this expression but as Joe
genuinely committed to the task at hand, no one corrected him. We smiled and
accepted his offering before the meal.
Do you have a sacred ritual of giving thanks before meals?
When I was a child, every night before dinner, my Dad said a prayer. His personal
reverence for the sacred and divine came through him as he blessed the meal and
gave a word of thanks for the food and to mom for her wonderful cooking and for us
as his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are five reasons you can consider why I think it is important:
\u00a0 \u00a0 1. You model for your family your values. Whether it is for the farmer or for God,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 whether a serious prayer or a joyful song, you are pausing, reflecting and
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 acknowledging your bountiful blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we sat down to dinner, I asked, \u201cWould anyone like to say grace?\u201d Surprisingly,Joe, eight years old, excitedly volunteered, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n