Counting Our Blessings!

Hoping to recreate the “candle effect” at home, we began lighting a candle and singing the song, followed by a short blessing, each night at dinner.

Two-and-a-half years later, the song, the blessing and the candle-lighting remain an important part of our meal experience.

Our son, Quinn, now 18 months, has experienced it since birth and now reaches out to hold hands as soon as we click the strap on his booster seat – sometimes catching one of us forgetting and starting to eat before we sing.

Like every other family on the planet, we have gone through stressful periods where children’s needs, work schedules, and clutter messes got in the way of even sitting together at the table, never mind singing and lighting candles.

But the Welcome Song always finds its way back to us.

Whether it’s me spotting a new beeswax candle in a store, or Quinn toddling around with the candle snuffer singing “Welca-Welca,” something always reminds us how important our family meals and the rituals around them are.

Candles to go
Meal blessings have become so special that we now have a candle, complete with a fancy candelabra, at my parents’ house and at my mother-in-law’s house, it is my niece and nephew who make sure that every meal begins with our song and blessing.

There have been times when the food my mother-in-law prepares smells so good and we are all so hungry that we dive right in.

But every time that has happened, somewhere along the way, at some point in the meal, one of the children has noticed and insisted that we all stop and sing (sometimes simply blessing our dessert).

Getting Started
If you’d like to begin some new mealtime rituals in your house, I’d suggest starting small.

First and foremost, and I thank my dad for consistently holding to this rule, turn off all the background distractions like the television, talk radio, cell phones etc.

If a meal blessing feels too foreign and singing (even off-key like us) is too awkward, you might try what my friends do each night at dinner and take turns answering “What was the best part of your day?”.

Or maybe offer a toast (our three-year-old loves drinking her water out of a wine glass and toasting with the rest of us) to set the mood and focus on good-feeling thoughts.

You might even want to start just once a week with a more formal meal blessing or toast and see what evolves.

Or take advantage of upcoming holiday meals – a wonderful time to resurrect a family meal blessing or begin a new tradition!

Here are a few short, child-friendly meal blessings to get you started:

Blessings on our meal, on everyone here and everyone dear.

Thank you for the world so sweet. Thank you for the food we eat. Thank you for the birds that sing. Thank you God for everything.

Earth who gives to us this food; Sun who makes it ripe and good; Dearest Earth, Dearest Sun, Joy and Love for all you have done.

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest and may our daily food be blessed.

Thank you, God, for happy hearts, for rain and sunny weather. Thank you for the food we eat and that we are together. 

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