I thought I had finished my breakfast. My grandmother disagreed. Sliding my plate back under my nose, this elderly child of the depression pointed to one left-over crumb of scrambled egg that was about half the size of a raisin. “You have to eat everything,” she kindly said. “God has given you this meal and you need to receive it with thanks!” I remember my 10-year-old self trying in vain to stab that last tiny morsel with my fork. I also remember a lesson in gratitude from a wise old woman who knew that everything she had, including that miniscule bit of food, was a good gift from God.

Looking back, I can’t help but realize that I grew up in a family that understood that it is out of His steadfast love that God “gives food to all flesh” (Psalm 136:25). Because my parents and grandparents recognized that “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17), we never wavered from pausing to thank God for our food before every meal, whether eaten at home, on a roadside picnic table, or at a restaurant. I’m so grateful for that legacy of gratitude!

Sadly, we live in a self-centered culture that is sometimes thankless. . . evidenced by the fact that we’ve forgotten the practice of saying grace. Researchers tell us that fewer and fewer Americans are praying daily, and only 33% say grace before meals often or always. Our kids are missing out, which means that we have to go out of our way to nurture them into understanding that all they have is a gift from God, and we are dependent on Him for everything. I would suggest that there are three main reasons for this decline in gratitude, each one worthy of our consideration as we think about why we might be forgetting or forsaking the practice of thanking God for our food.

First, there’s the pace of our lives. We are more hurried and harried than ever before, running here, there, and everywhere as we try to keep up with our busy schedules. Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School report that only about 25% to 30% of families eat dinner together every single day. In addition, a third of families with children ages 11 to 18 share only one or two meals a week. When a meal is grabbed on-the-go or alone, it’s easy to not even think about having or expressing gratitude.

Second, there’s the cunning and numbing spirit of privilege and entitlement that has led us to simply expect our food to always be there. Having never done without, we lose our sense of gratitude within. That which is always there becomes unconsciously expected rather than consciously appreciated. Next time you’re in the grocery store, quietly walk up and down the aisles, taking stock of everything that is at your fingertips just waiting to be put in your cart. It’s unbelievable!

Third, there is the age-old problem of pride. This is the problem that got our first parents into trouble (Genesis 3). Thinking they knew better than God and that they could live their lives on their own strength, they fell into sin. It’s the same thing we’ve all been doing ever since. Our pride leads us to believe that we live not with dependence on God, but on our own strength. As Brad Littlejohn has written, pride leads us to forget that “every daily meal is impossible without God’s providential care.” Charles Spurgeon once said, “The healthiest state for a Christian is always to be empty of self, while constantly depending upon the Lord for supply.” We need to remember this in a world which encourages self-dependence.

During this month in which we celebrate Thanksgiving, I would suggest that we pause to take stock of just how thankful we should be for all that we’ve been given, including the food we consume each and every day. All of our food and everything we have is a gift from God. These are truths that our children need to hear! Perhaps this is the perfect time to appreciate and rekindle the family habit of saying “grace” at our meals. The term “grace” comes from the Latin phrase gratiarum action, which literally means “act of thanks.” In the Bible, our Jewish ancestors, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul among others would pause to give thanks for food they were about to eat, knowing that it was ultimately from the hand of God that this gift of sustenance came (Deuteronomy 8:10, Luke 24:30, John 6:11, Acts 27:35). God’s hand is still giving!

To pray before a meal is a deliberate pause that will slow the pace of our busy lives. To pray before a meal is a reminder of just how privileged we are. To pray before a meal is to recognize that our food is a good gift from God. To pray before a meal is to teach our kids that God deserves all the gratitude and glory for all that we have and all that we are, including every single bite.