Tag: Table Talk

Uncategorized

Gathering Around The Table

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

The last two days have found me doing what I love best, gathering around the table with dear friends. On Sunday evening we had 5 couples over for dinner. We cooked the meat and dessert (of course dessert as it is my favorite food to make) and each couple brought something to add to the meal. We ate our fill of ham, baked beans, Jiffy Corn Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Broccoli and Rice, Green Salad, Rolls and Texas Yum Yums for dessert. As we sat around the table the laughter and fellowship was just so good.It is amazing how different people are when they are gathered around a table with food. It seems that there is so much less pretense of what is going on in your life and heart. Before guest arrived, I had typed up (Randy made me type the questions up as no one can read my writing) questions to be picked out of a bowl for each person. Some of the questions were:

If you could go back to any age, what would it be and why?

What is your favorite vacation or dream vacation?

What car would you drive and what color would it be?

These are just some of the questions that brought so much laughter. The man who got the car question began to tell us about the corvette he still had after 22 years and some of the stories behind it. Another who answered the age question told us about the year he met his wife and how that was the best year. As we sat and listened to each one, there seemed to be so much that was told that allowed us to see who the person really was and some of their thoughts. There was so much laughter as we listened to a couple tell how they met and became engaged after only 10 days and that was 36 years ago. As I sat and listened to the individuals, I could not help but think about how different we all are, but we tend to thrive on learning about one another.

Then yesterday afternoon, a new friend who I have actually known for years from church and even lived down the same street from she and her husband (who passed away 5 years ago). Our houses were even the same floor plan so when I stepped into her home, so many memories came flooding into my mind of when we lived in that house down the street back in 2000. This precious lady had invited me to her home for tea. Feeling like I was on the set of Downton Abby, I sat down to a table which was set with linen placemats, linen napkins, each of us having our own tea pot and teas to choose from. What a wonderful treat. She served finger sandwiches and miniature desserts, frozen mango bites and quiche. It was such a lovely time. Of course you know what I’m going to say. As good as the food was, the best part was listening to some of the memories she shared about family members, including her precious husband. We sat and talked about our lives and some of the things we might change and some circumstances that had lessons which were sometimes hard and sometimes funny. Our thoughts and our hearts seem to unfold when we gather together around a table. I wish I knew why that was so. But I do know that as Jesus sat around the Communion table with His disciples before going to the Cross, He not only shared a meal with them, but His heart as well. Maybe it’s time that we turn off the television set a little more and take the time to gather around the table and get to know each other a little better. Sometimes, when we have people over, I think to myself, what would I be doing differently if Jesus were coming to dinner? I have to admit that when I ask myself that question, it brings me back to the fact that He would be more concerned about me listening to His heart and He listening to mine, more than He would be concerned about what I was serving Him or how clean the house. Then I remind myself that He is here, gathered around the table with us, each and every time. My lesson Im trying to learn is this: Don’t make the house or the food the focus of the gathering. Make the individuals the focus and listen with an open heart to them. Make them feel important and welcome and make them feel that when they leave our home, they have been loved on and served with a heart that was so very glad they came.

Gathering Around The Table should be about making a memory, showing hospitality, not entertaining.

Entertaining seeks to impress, hospitality wants to bless! may we go and gather together with a heart that reaches out to someone today that needs a listening ear and a receptive heart.

Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you or forsake you”

Mark 14:22 “As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God’s blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples.”

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Table Time

Chocolate Castles9 Comments

We sold our dining table & chairs yesterday. We have tried several times to sell it, thinking we wanted a round table instead of the rectangle one which came with our house we bought back in 2001 when Randy’s job took us to California. So 17 years, family and friends have gathered around that table. So much food has been served and so many memories of different groups have sat around that sweet table. Isn’t it so strange that for some reason, I always thought I would be so glad when it sold, but as we sat there looking at the empty space last night in the dining room, so many memories came flooding back to me.
When we bought our home in California back in 2001, God was so gracious to us to provide so much furniture that had been left in the new house. Jodi and Jaden were coming to live with us and since it was a model home, they had left the nursery furniture, the dining room furniture and so much more. In fact, the builder left so much of the furniture, we had to sell some of ours as there wasn’t room for all of our things. We have told the story so many times of God’s blessings to us as we moved from Texas to CA and how He went before us and provided for all our needs, even a nursery.

When we moved back to Texas in 2003, of course that beautiful table went with us. A dear friend, Debbie, our Women’s Minister called one day with a question. Would I consider having teacher training in our home and cook for them to have lunch. Would I….wow, that was such an answer to prayer that I could have ladies in our home and cook for them. One of my favorite things to do. After a couple of years, she had another great idea. (Yep, thats Debbie, lots of great ideas that involve food). HA.She suggested that we have the minister wives meet together for a luncheon once a month, at our house. We lived right across the street from the church (which that is another story of how God closed the door to one house and opened the door for one right across the street from our church) This would allow them to get to know the other minister wives and just be loved on, as we would cook and serve them each month. We realized that sometimes minister’s wives have so much ask of them: lots of time away from their husbands always being called up to serve in different capacities, not many chances to get to know other ladies who have the same responsibility of always being on call and having to sometimes “be on” and feeling like they had to be perfect. So once again, it was a privilege and blessing to just cook and serve these precious ladies who have been such an influence in my life over the years.

The times of meals being cooked and served to family gathered around the table when their lives were so hectic and hurried, and yet, when they sat down to eat maybe a roast with mashed potatoes or turkey & dressing, ham at Easter, beans and tamales at Christmas….there was always a calm that presided over our time together. It was always such a treat when one of our kids and their spouses would call and ask if they could come over for dinner. Always gave me an excuse to bake and cook a lot of food. So much more fun to cook for more than two. One of my prayers for our kids and their families is that they relish their time around the table and realize that it isn’t the food being served that is important, but the laughter, and the time spent in conversations about what is going on in their lives at the time.
When I think about all the blessing that have been spoken, some unspoken, around that table the last 17 years, it brings tears to my eyes to think about all the ways God has truly blessed our families and the ones who have gathered around. There have been prayers which have been answered. Relationships mended,kids sharing stories of setbacks or awards. These are such gifts which we treasure to this day.

Today, both Randy and I paused and prayed for the family that will now be sitting around that table. May they feel the prayers that have been said. May the Lord shine His face upon them that they would sense His presence and come to know Him personally, if they do not already.

Yes, it didn’t bring me the joy that I had anticipated I would have selling it, but…may God grant us in His time, in His place where He takes us to begin a new season of once again, gathering around a table, whether it be round, square or rectangle, which will bring honor to His name.