Pull Up to the Table

Studies repeatedly show that kids who regularly get to pull up to a family dinner table do better in school, stay out of trouble, and form more lasting relationships. Kids who regularly have supper with Mom and Dad are significantly less likely to smoke, drink, do drugs, or suffer from depression. The real pay-off comes during the turbulence of the teen years when the habit of the family dinner becomes a kind of anchor. It does not matter much what is on the menu. It’s the time to talk, the reconnection that occurs at the table, that makes the difference. Curiously, if parents attempt to establish the habit in the teen years when it is needed most, they will almost certainly fail. The habit must be formed from the toddler years.

Yesterday, Bev and I got the kids off to school and went to breakfast together. We sat talking over our coffee and pancakes, just enjoying each other’s company, catching up. It’s been a while since life allowed us this small pleasure. How refreshing it was to spend an hour or so at the table.

Do you regularly sit down at your Heavenly Father’s table? Jesus, after seeing a great faith in a Roman centurion, prophecied that "many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 8:11, NLT)  God’s table is not closed! It is an open table, one to which people of faith are invited, regardless of race, background, sex, or economic status. We have the privilege of enjoying His company, but do we enter in?  Our lives can become so busy, so packing with activities and responsibilities, that days may pass without us having a meaningful conversation with the Lord. Find time to pour a cup of coffee, pick up your Bible, and invite the Holy Spirit to be present. Just listen to Him. Change up your prayer and ‘chat’ with God, talking over life with Him. It’s your privilege to pull up to the table.

John’s eyes were opened by the Spirit. When he gazed across time to the End of all things, he envisioned a great dinner for all the saints, a reception for the Wedding of Ages. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.” (Revelation 19:7-9, NLT)  What a dinner that will be! Can you imagine the stories that will told around that long, long table?  Stories of triumph, stories of grace. I’ll be there. How about you?

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Jesus has a table spread

Where the saints of God are fed,

He invites His chosen people, “Come and dine”;

With His manna He doth feed

And supplies our every need:

O ’tis sweet to sup with Jesus all the time!

Soon the Lamb will take His bride

To be ever at His side,

All the host of Heaven will assembled be;

O ’twill be a glorious sight,

All the saints in spotless white;

And with Jesus they will feast eternally.

“Come and dine,” the Master calleth, “Come and dine”;

You may feast at Jesus’ table all the time;

He Who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine,

To the hungry calleth now, “Come and dine.”

-       Charles Widmeyer