Thanksgiving Devotional Ideas to Start Planning Now

Thanksgiving devotions are almost always improvised at the table, which is why they are so often a rushed sentence before the food goes cold.

Galatians 6:9 says not to be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don't give up. Due season is the argument for planning now. Thanksgiving arrives whether or not anyone prepared for it, and the difference between the two versions of that day is decided weeks ahead. Planned in September or October, they become the part of the day people remember. Here are four formats and what each one needs from you in advance.

The Round the Table Thanks

Each person names one specific thing from this year, in one sentence, going around the table once.

The word specific is what saves it. Without it, everyone says family and health and the whole thing takes ninety seconds and means nothing.

Warn people a week ahead. Given notice, even the reluctant relatives arrive with something, and the answers are far better.

A Psalm Read in Parts

Psalm 100 or Psalm 103 read around the table, a verse each. No commentary and no explanation.

Print the verses on small cards and put one at each place setting. That removes the awkwardness of passing a Bible and finding the place.

Two minutes, and it works with any mix of believers and non believers at the table because nobody is asked to say anything of their own.

Choose the reader for each verse in advance if children are at the table. Being handed a card with a name on it is much easier than being asked to volunteer.

The Year in Answered Prayers

If your household keeps a prayer list or a memory box, read from it. What was asked in January, and what happened.

This is the richest of the four and it takes the most preparation, which is exactly why it needs planning in October rather than on the day.

Choose five or six in advance and know which ones you are reading.

A Written Blessing for Each Person

Write one sentence for every person coming, naming something true and good about them, and read them out or hand them over.

An hour of work in the week beforehand, and people keep these for years.

Do not attempt this on the morning. It only lands when it has been thought about.

Keep each one to a single sentence, and write them all in the same sitting. Written across a week they drift in length and the short ones start to feel like an afterthought.

What to Do in Advance

Choose the format now. Tell whoever needs warning a week ahead. Print or write anything that needs printing by the weekend before.

And decide when in the meal it happens. Before the food is usually best, since after the plates are cleared half the table has gone.

Choose Yours This Week

Pick one of the four and write it in the calendar for the week before Thanksgiving with whatever it needs.

Ten minutes of planning now is the difference between a real moment and a rushed sentence over the gravy.

Whichever you choose, keep it short. Five minutes is a moment people remember warmly. Fifteen is one they remember differently.