Year 8-Day 202: Today, I am grateful for meals around a family table. Three of our four kids have birthdays between the beginning of July and early August. We have five other family birthdays and an anniversary in that season, too. What's the point? Birthdays, for us, mean time around the family table.
Sharing a meal with a stranger or a casual friend is hospitality. Sharing a meal with family is something special. It is intimate and sweet. The Love of my Life and I do not take one meal around the family table for granted.
Under Covid-19 restrictions, we have opted for carry out and cooking at home for our birthday celebrations, when we would normally enjoy the luxury of a meal out. The upside is the ability to relax and linger without tying up a table someone else might need at a restaurant.
When we eat at home, there are times we clear the table and share games. We all have our favorites. We are fortunate that the games result in more laughter than competition. It doesn't really matter who wins. The win is in the gathering together. This year, we appreciate physically being together even more than we did last year. Together is a good place to be.
I followed on of those "rabbit holes" on the internet about Michael Oher and the Tuohy family. They are the family from "The Blind Side". The rabbit hole was some of Michael Oher's thoughts on the movie. Things that were accurate and things that were Hollywood's interpretation of real events. One stood out to me.
In the movie, Michael Oher convinces his new family to sit with him around the dinner table. It is true! He regularly requested that they eat together. That simple act of being a family was the one he craved. Far more than their generosity, the fact that he had a place at the table where he really belonged spoke volumes about being a family. It spoke volumes about his belonging.
Family isn't about genetics... and it certainly isn't about skin color. True family is born in the heart. Yes, some come from the womb, but it is the heart that seals the deal. Love is a choice we make daily in families, too. Putting another's needs before our own desires is one way we show love. Love always demands sacrifices, but when we love... it isn't that big of a deal. Family is where we start from and where we end. With family, we always have a place at the table.
This passage was perfect. It is referencing that in Jesus, all are welcome at the table. All belong in the kingdom of God when they kneel at the cross, accepting Christ as Lord. From every corner of the world... every race and nation... there will be new faces at the table.
"And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God." -Luke 13:28
There is much to look forward to on that day.
Today, I am grateful for meals around a family table.
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