The Table Experience: Experiencing Opportunities To Connect With Family

Crucial to making your home a sanctuary is developing loving, meaningful and fulfilling relationships among those who live in your home. How do we achieve this goal when everyone is busy and the pace of life moves so quickly? Family members are stressed, overwhelmed and many times walking around like zombies in their homes. How do we gain a greater balance and rhythm in our family life, so we can sit down at the table to enjoy a meal together? Meal time is often a time for talking, bonding and exploring dreams. The beauty of the table experience can also be appreciated through biblical history. In the bible it is mentioned that when God prepared his disciples for ministry, he would gather them around the table (Matthew 26:20). To be invited to the table of the King was indeed a high honor and where blessings occurred (Luke 24:30, Luke 14:15). David in Psalm 23, verse 5 says: "when the Lord leads him through the valley of the shadow of death, he prepared a table in the presence of our enemies. " One of the most important pieces of furniture in your home is the "table" where you sit and share space with loved ones, friends and neighbors. When I was growing up, our family ate dinner everyday at the same time. We looked forward to sitting at the dining room table to bless the food and discuss the joys and challenges we faced that day. I remember vividly, no one was ever late for dinner, and we considered this a sacred time to experience the love and joy of family. As I have discussed often on this site, if you embrace and utilize the five senses (i.e., see, hear, taste, touch and smell) to make your home a sanctuary, you will create spaces that become a pleasing place of ministry. I hope you can visualize and experience these senses when you share the table experience with family. This sacred family time is a special gift from God, one we cannot take for granted. The frailty of life is so real; we must accept that tomorrow is not promised, nor do we know the challenges before us that may impede our ability to enjoy the table experience (i.e., sickness, death, divorce, separation, etc). We must begin today to build strong family relationships that honors God. The urgency is NOW! As you reflect about making your home a sanctuary, I suggest you take time to reflect about your family's table experiences: * Are you taking time to enjoy the table experience in your home? *When was the last time your family sat down together to enjoy a family meal together? *Who have you invited into your home to share a table experience lately? *What can you do to further enhance the "table experience" in your home? *How can you incorporate more of the five senses (i.e. see, taste, touch, smell, hear) into your table experience? May God continue to bless you as you honor Him through your table experience.