Family Table
Proverbs 31:15
She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family…
Matthew 8:11
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Revelation 19:9
Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’”
All throughout the Word of God we see evidence of how important sitting and eating together around a table is to God. In Luke 15 we see where the father wanted to kill the fattened calf and celebrate when the son came home. At the home of Mary and Martha, food was prepared and eaten. The Last Supper was always eaten around a family table. In that final day He is throwing the biggest party EVER with us as His honored guests. How awesome and mind boggling is that?! I believe that since God shows us many times in the Word how important the family table is to Him, He expects us to think of it as important as well. Do we?
As I look at the world around us now, I see and hear from a lot of women that the family table is becoming extinct. That grieves me so. We choose to eat out, at restaurants or fast food places, at sporting events, in our car or at home…by calling and ordering pizza and then eating in front of the T.V. What is happening to the family table?
When I was a little girl (I know, it was a looong time ago!) I knew that everyday around 5:30 there would be a hot meal on the table waiting for my family. Lovingly prepared by my mom. I can remember playing in the street with my friends and begging mama to let me play “just a little longer” instead of coming in to eat. The answer was always the same…no. I was expected to be at the family table. I have memories of laughter, talking and sharing together. I also have memories of being made on occasion, to sit there until I had eaten every bit of my mashed potatoes (and feeling like I would yak before I could get them all down.) As a child I did not realize the importance of the family table. But, mama and daddy did. When my dad changed from a day shift job to a 2nd shift job as a welder when I was in my teens, looking back I think that not being together for that meal every day had a negative impact in my life. We became disconnected as a family at a time when I desperately needed to stay close. Talking at other times was not the same. Because of that I wandered and did things that I should not have done. I’m not saying that one meal a day as a family is what would have kept me in line…it’s what came with that meal that I needed. Accountability, reassurance, talking, questioning, and the feeling of being connected to something bigger than me…my family…around that table. Statistics show that kids who eat at least 4 meals a week around a family table are less likely to get into trouble, drugs and premarital sex.
Fast forward to 1976…the year Rick and I married. Rick had not been raised with the family table. But, we decided now that we were a family of two, we wanted to start our own family table. Every night we sat at the table and ate together and talked about our day. It kept us connected. It also caused us to spend a lot of money on long distance calls! I called my mom just about every day with a question on how to cook something. And I made the mistake of cooking like I had seen her cook…for 5 of us. And since there were only 2 of us and we ate it all…we both gained about 20 pounds that first year of marriage! )-: We carried the family table all the way through our thirty-three years of marriage. And even now, if you come to the Starr house about once a month, you will find all 13 of us gathered around our family table, doing what we do best. Talking and laughing. From the time the kids were little until now, our only rule at the table was no arguing or putting someone down…nothing else was off limits…that made for some lively discussions! The family table continues to bind us together in ways that nothing else can.
Matthew and John tell us that one day there is going to be a supper beyond any supper we have ever experienced! In Revelation 19 we see that the skies will part…Jesus will appear on His white horse with King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s written on His robe and thigh…the enemy will be defeated forever, we will get our new immortal bodies and go to live with Jesus and all those who love Him forever! Then comes the wedding banquet of the Lamb! We will all be seated at the longest table ever make. I wonder sometimes since Jesus was a carpenter by trade if that might be what He is spending some of His time making? If so, I expect that Rick is working a long side Him, as he had a great love for working with his hands as well…smile. That meal will be like none that we have ever participated in on earth. And I think that because we see meals and banquets talked about often in the Word of God…there will be many more meals shared in heaven around the family table.
What about you? If you are a family with young children, or a family with teenagers…maybe there are just two of you, or you are just beginning your family…I urge you to consider the family table. Prepare a nutritious meal (I did not prepare 5 different meals…they ate what I made or they didn’t eat…I know, that sounds mean). Call everyone to the table. Turn the TV off and mute your cell phones, sit across from one another and eat and talk. It is so worth it! Don’t beat yourself up if it takes a while to get it going…just do the best you can. The benefits of the family meal cannot be calculated…you may never know how it impacts your family. But, this I can promise you…your family will be stronger for having done it. Your family will be closer years later for having done it. And the legacy you pass on to your children…the Family Table…will continue for generation after generation….until Jesus comes on that white horse!
Sending much love,
Debbie
