Speaking of praying before meals...?

Question

Do you hold hands while saying grace as a family or do you keep your hands to yourself. In our family we hold hands.

Side quesiton: In public do you ever strive to finish grace before the server comes back with a side of ranch or something and they beat you to it and stand at the table and quietly wait? Any severs on here run into that themselves?

Answer 1

I had a thought when i was a kid...i ask my mom "why don't we just ask the Lord to bless everything when you bring it home from the store?..this way we could thank Him for every thing all at once and then everybody who comes into our home would be eating "blessed food" whether they knew it or not!" or, "we could put it away, and then ask the blessing on it...what do you think? does it really make a differance to Him as to when we ask Him to bless it or are thankful? (just a thought)

Answer 2

We say a prayer individually because there is only the two of us and we don't always eat at the same time,,or even if we do,,,we don't eat in the same place....we rarely use our dining table for dining....However, I love the idea of a family holding hands and saying Grace. My DH always seems uncomfortable with public prayer, so I don't push it. It would be nice though, to hold hands and say Grace, before we go our separate ways...

You should say your prayers, after you get your full meal,,so they don't have to wait..It should also be a short prayer,,,,this is not the time to prayer for Aunt Mable's cat......and don't draw attention to yourself.....you are thanking God for your meal and not putting on a show for others in the restaurant...

Answer 3

My family has done both, I guess it just depends on how we feel at that moment. We've never rushed because of the server, but I don't think it's actually ever come up. If I were a server, I would wait if I wasn't in a hurry, or come back when they were done if I was really busy.

Answer 4

it has been my new year's resolution this year to pray before meals. I am fine with holding hands or not. I usually go with the flow. as for the server they will have to wait till i'm done, but that usually isn't that long, i just pray the prayer before meals prayer which takes 15 seconds.

Answer 5

I grew up in a big family, and we all held hands when praying before meals. We always made the server wait for us or else they just worked around us. Now I don't usually pray at meals. I still give God thanks for what he gave us, but I don't think it's necessary to do so precisely at mealtimes. -yk

Answer 6

We hold hands.
I do not rush to finish, no.
I used to be a server and ran into that all the time. I just walked away and came back when they were done out of respect.

Answer 7

I've eaten with lots of Christians and none of them have ever done this, maybe a quick "thank you lord amen" but nothing like holding hands or in public...

Is it common to do that?

Answer 8

we just say our grace. I think this is another "sign" of unity for the Prostestants---as a Catholic we do not need signs--we ARE united in Holy Communion.

The Catholic grace is short enough that we do not start it if we see the server coming and it is always finished by the time they are there--so no biggy.

Answer 9

My family used to hold hands at a funeral while they were praying (which kind of left me open to a LOT of scrutiny). I don't participate.... my family never said grace at the table (aside of my dad, who kept it to himself).

Answer 10

After years of being annoyed by this, my grandparents finally came up with a workable solution: they only have family meals out at buffets.