This needlepoint from perhaps a hundred years ago has hung just left of our fireplace for a decade
I'd forgotten it was there.
I looked at it this afternoon as if I had seen it for the first time
Do children in school recite this prayer anymore?
I'd forgotten it was there.
I looked at it this afternoon as if I had seen it for the first time
Do children in school recite this prayer anymore?
I wonder
Oh! I remember that!
ReplyDeleteI remember this from my primary school years. I work in a Church of England school and it is no longer recited by the children.
ReplyDeleteStef x
There is no God.
ReplyDeleteHa ha.
DeleteI know there isnt YP
DeleteYes there is and I know where he is ... in prison because that's the BS I keep hearing people sentenced to life or on death row say they've found him.
DeleteHA HA ! You have made my day !
DeleteBrilliant 😃
Deletetruth, YP!
DeleteBootsandBraids, have an up vote or several, and thanks for the laugh. Now I am even more scared of incarceration.
DeleteU
I learned that in Sunday School in the late 1950's in Indiana. Short and sweet--the first and best prayer I've ever heard. It has meaning no matter what (or if) you believe God to be. I'm not a religious person but I am still thankful for the good things in life. This is the first time I've seen this little prayer written, let alone in needlepoint. Thanks for bringing back a pleasant childhood memory for me.
ReplyDeleteI dont believe either Ginger.. But I too like the sweetness of the thanks
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DeleteBrave thing to post in the US maybe, not for us in the UK thank goodness!
DeleteInteresting comment that it is a brave thing to post- thatnwould never have occurred to me.
DeleteDon't be offended Dianne! I wasn't getting at you. It's just that since the world got so small, what with the internets and all, I've had my eyes opened regarding christian nutjobbery in the USA. It seems that we are separated by much more than just a common language these days....
DeleteThat is a gorgeous piece of needlework. I remember hearing that prayer growing up, but haven't done for many years.
ReplyDeleteBy the 1950's school prayers were withdrawn from classrooms here, but I recall a close parallel from my camping Sundays in the Boy Scouts (1961-64):
ReplyDeleteFor food, for fun, for raiment, we thank thee Lord.
Sometimes I still hear it in memory.
I remember it from primary school up to 1973
DeleteLike Ginger, I believe it has meaning even if you don't believe in a standard God. Lovely piece of needlework and a reminder of more innocent days.
ReplyDeleteI for one have never heard it....... not even in my school days.. Hugs! deb
ReplyDeleteNot here, isn't allowed.
ReplyDeleteRemembered from Sunday School (late 40s/early 50s) - thank you for the memory John.
ReplyDeleteSometimes little things like this pop into my mind - All things bright and beautiful takes me back there as well ~ Cathy
John, this is a charming piece of needle WORK or embroidery, but it is not needle POINT. It probably dates from 1920s to 1950s, so it is indeed almost 100 years old. [tho I d date it 1930-50 if I had to be specific.]. No prayers in US schools, but it's familiar, maybe we said it in Girl Scouts or I heard it at a friend's house where they said grace before meals. I love the simplicity of the design and the sentiment, religion aside.
ReplyDeletelizzy
In the US no prayer no matter how sweet can be said !
ReplyDeleteThe PC police will get.
cheers, parsnip
I was thinking the same thing, I can remember the wording of it.
DeleteWhich is so ironic as all US politicians seem to bang on about God no end.
Deletehahahahahaha yes, so PC until needed !
DeleteI sung it with the pre-schoolers at playgroup until the playgroup was disbanded six months ago
ReplyDeleteI remember it too!
ReplyDeleteMy late mother had a collection of early Georgian samplers etc. I loved them, but they were all sold. She had one or two very small ones like yours. Beautiful things; a reminder of another age.
ReplyDeleteI remember saying this prayer at lunch time
ReplyDeletein my first year of teaching kindergarten children in 1961.
As far as I know, you won't find prayers said in the
United States public schools today.
I remember that but we used to say, before every meal, "For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful".
ReplyDeleteI do remember that but not sure if we said it at primary school, we probably did as I remember bowing my head and putting my hands together to say something as it was a Church of England school where the Vicar came in once a week.
ReplyDeleteI love how the comments have got on to believing in God or not. The Methodist Pastor came to call once and I said he was at the wrong house as husband and kids are staunch Athists. As he left walking down my path, asked what I believed in. I stretched my arms out and answered, " Mother Nature "
We used to sing this at school every day before we ate our lunch in the early 1970s. So sweet. Then I moved to school in Scotland where we didn't say Grace but we did say the Lord's Prayer in class every morning before lessons began - Christians, Jews and non-believers altogether.
ReplyDeleteWe said that at primary and junior school, it was a real 'catch all' prayer. Said at lunches and assemblies.
ReplyDeleteIt is a child's hymn which we used to sing at school. I remember the tune.
ReplyDeleteWe were straight in at the Rosary at my school nananananaaa
ReplyDeletePapist.
DeleteI think I remember seeing that prayer in a book when I was a child. You have jogged my memory of another one from the book:
ReplyDeleteI'm happy when I'm good
When naughty I am sad
I know that if your wish is done
Then everyone is glad
Lovely little embroidery. Makes me want to do one!
Only if said at home ....these days it is considered politically incorrect to have prayer or the flag salute in school.
ReplyDeleteI remember that one well. Religion isn't allowed in our schools now..no prayers.
ReplyDeleteLate Mother and Father in law still said grace at main meals right up to their passing away. When the children were small their favourite to say when at Nanna and Grandad's home was " For every cup and Plateful,Lord make us truly grateful"
ReplyDeletePausing before eating to say thankyou to the cook would be nice!
I've never heard the verse on this needlework; interesting piece, john.
ReplyDeleteI remember saying grace at my grandparents' table when I was a little girl. Something along the lines of thanking for food on our table. My grandparents didn't believe in god. But they sure remembered the war and its deprivations.
ReplyDeleteThe Angel (my son),now twenty five, always thanks me for the meal when he gets up from the table. It's not something I "taught" him, yet he will unfailingly do so. I have never asked why he does so. Courtesy? Manners? Expression of appreciation for my efforts? Who knows. It's very touching.
So, John, gratitude and not taking things for granted, not dead yet. And, possibly, never will be.
U
This brought back memories John. We used to recite it at Sunday School eighty years ago - haven't heard it for years. Treasure it.
ReplyDeleteI remember that from my C of E infant/junior school. There was a set group of prayers that we had to recite every day. Then again we also had to sing some dubious hymns like "Over the sea there are little brown children " and "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow".
ReplyDeleteI remember it too John. What interests me more is the needlework. My friend just last weekend went home to England for her mother's 80th birthday and had spent hours upon hours making a needlepoint and getting it framed. Her mom is German, dad is English, so she stitched in the German flag, the Union Jack, the house where her mom grew up and so on. A beautiful piece of work. I am so sentimental I would love that. I told her I hope she stitched in her own name and the date. For my son's wedding in July I made a patchwork quilt, and stitched in pictures of the bride and groom, the date, and lots of personal stuff. I hope at least one of my kids/grandchildren will be sentimental like me to keep it (I have a beautiful picture of my grandfather - on cardboard - in uniform during WWI). He died as a result but I sought out info on his medals etc and stuck it to the back of his portrait. I never met him, but I hope somewhere down the line one of my descendants will treasure it as much as I do. Anna
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet piece. Not in the US as we have separation between church and state.
ReplyDeleteSeparation of church and state! In name only....how many times has a president said "God bless America"
DeleteAnd, in many state, children pledge allegiance to the flag...more God in that.
DeleteOur little Brownie troop (girls of about 9 years old and too young to be Girl Scouts) used to say that prayer. Coming from an "unchurched" family as I did, I think if a group prayer has to be said, this one is the best. Short and sweet with no mention of Jesus or anybody extraneous to the thought of gratitude for the amazing fact that we're here at all to enjoy this life that has been given to us. Amen.
ReplyDeleteI know it, but not sure where from!
ReplyDeleteYes, in an Episcopalian school, camp, and church. No one here says prayers any more in school. I love that little piece.
ReplyDeleteI have a dim recollection of this from my childhood.
ReplyDeletethat is the exact prayer we say. I have always received shit from my mother because she finds it childish. But my children are grown adults and have taught it to my grandchildren. I always loved it, the world could use more thankfulness.
ReplyDeleteThis was the prayer we sung every morning in the Infants
ReplyDeleteclass in Primary School when I started school in l934.
EH
Goodness, I haven't heard that since my heathen 1970's primary school days here in Australia! I can't remember when we used to sing it but the tune came flooding back. It may have been tossed out of the repertoire by the late 70's when the state schools had a full song sheet to get through at assembly, a time when the country was deliberating which song would be the new national anthem. We were ditching God Save The Queen and ended up with the dreary Advance Australia Fair, but considered all manner of ludicrous tunes in between so they all got sung at assembly. Gems like I'm Bound For Botany Bay (convict woes) and Click Go The Shears (sheep shearing ditty) and Waltzing Matilda (sheep rustling tragedy)- all so far removed from sense - still stick in my mind. Ah, the colonies!
ReplyDeleteVanessa in Sydney
How odd. Only the other day I thought exactly the same thing. We said that prayer every morning in school
ReplyDeleteWow thanks, I'd forgotten that. Like any others, it was recited everyday in my school.
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ReplyDeleteThis still used in year 2 in our school today x
ReplyDelete