Prayers in Handwritten Recipes
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Prayer, like a handwritten recipe, isn’t just about the outcome—it’s about the connection, the memory, and the love passed down and shared.
Dear God, thank you for warm summer nights and candlelight and good food. But thank you most of all for friends. We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other.
– Kate DiCamillo
This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!
– Julia Child
Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Food for Thought
Where would the table be without recipes? My cousin created a recipe book for me as a wedding gift. She gave a stash of blank cards to extended family, my mother in law, my mother and my tribe of other mothers who had changed my diapers, and disciplined me when Momma wasn’t around to write recipes for food we shared at their tables. I have liquidated many things during the era of declutter, including throwing away some recipes, but not those. THAT book is a treasure.
The awesome, and now a bit sad, thing about the recipe book is that, if I couldn’t read the handwriting or if I didn’t like one of the ingredients, I could call Aunt Neva and ask her about it. Now, she’s gone. Those conversations usually led into other topics. It gave me a common place of conversation to start—something endearing—they shared their favorite foods with me. What a gift.
I recently wondered: if God is omniscient—if God knows what I need before I even think it—why does God want me to pray? And even more, why does He want me to pray with and for others? Why would the prayers of more than one person carry more power?
Yes, I believe God already knows my needs. But if I didn’t have to ask for the help of the Creator of the universe—the One who parts seas and raises the dead—would I actually talk to Him? Would I open my heart to others about my needs if we weren’t praying together in faith?
Maybe that’s part of the mystery and beauty of it all. Because I believe what James 5:16 says: “The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.”
I don’t always use the written recipes for things I make. But when I take the time to look through them, I think about Mrs. Allie’s cucumber dressing that I put over the cucumbers I grew in my garden this year, and I know she prayed for my son when he was born. When I read the recipes in my grandmother’s handwriting, I can see that great woman of faith standing in her apron in her kitchen cooking for every preacher that came to visit. I look at my recipe for communion bread from my spiritual mentor and think of the many times I’ve made that and joined in communing with my fellow believers—especially during covid.
Those handwritten recipes remind me of prayer. I have no connection to an online recipe. But I have a sensory overload of memories when I see the recipes in my book written by women who loved me and prayed for me.
God knows what I need before I ask, but when I pray I open myself to a different kind of connection with Him. God gets to hear the passion I feel about my heart’s desires. And when I am vulnerable enough to say to my people, “Hey, things aren’t perfect and I can’t do this alone,” God delights that I am willing to share not only with Him, but with the people around me. One minister I know always prays, “And when you answer this Lord, we are just gonna brag about You to everybody.” It’s better when you say it with a southern accent.
Now I write down recipes so that others, too, may know what it is like to be connected through food and prayer. I hope you will, too. Keep writing down those recipes in your own handwriting for the next generation to call, to ask about, even to text. Keep sharing those prayers with each other. Keep holding each other’s hands. Keep opening your hearts. It is a sweet connection—one that rises like the aroma of our favorite comfort foods when we open the door to home: soups simmering in the crockpot, warm shortbread, apple pie in the oven. We carry with us, always, these recipes of love.
Maybe start a “Recipe & Prayer Journal” for you, your family, or your community. Create a handwritten or digital journal that includes your favorite family recipes alongside personal prayers, scripture, or blessings from the person who the recipe reminds you of.
Invite friends or family for a potluck where each person brings a dish tied to a meaningful story or memory. Allow moments for reflection, a short prayer, or a blessing that connects with the recipe.
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
God, who hears our prayers,
Thank You for the quiet legacy of love written in recipes, shared in kitchens, and whispered in prayers. Help us to treasure the simple moments where food and faith meet, and to pass on both with open hands and open hearts. Let our prayers and meals alike be offerings of grace, drawing us closer to You and to one another.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
What is one recipe that holds deep meaning for you, and what memory or person does it connect you to?
How has prayer—whether your own or someone else's—shaped your journey through different seasons of life?
Do you think God already knows our needs? Why do you think God invites us to pray, and how has praying with others deepened your relationships?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Have your kiddos share what their favorite meal is to make in the kitchen, and ask them why they like it so much.
Take turns sharing about a time when they had someone pray for them. How did it make them feel?
Ask the kiddos why they think we should pray.
Meet This WEek’s Writer...
Dana Welty is a kindergarten teacher in St. Petersburg, Florida. She spends her days being the Pied Piper, leading her students to the amazing things in the world that God has created and transformed while watching them transform. She has been a part of a minister's family through childhood and by marriage. Her family believes in the importance of the example of Jesus to build relationships around good food.
To hear more from Dana throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!