What Does Your Table Look Like?

With Thanksgiving only a day away, I keep coming back to the table. I am not referring to decorating because my mom is hosting Thanksgiving this year. I am not referring to going back for seconds although her cooking is worthy. I am referring to the table itself and what it represents.

My mom is know for some of the prettiest table decorating. She puts thought and effort into it. There are amazing colors, candles, napkins and inviting themes that make you want to hang out there well beyond the last crumb. If you think about it the table represents so many things. The table is not only a place of provision and abundance. It is a place where conversations happen. It is where business transactions may occur. It is a place where friends gather. It is a place of laughter or prayer. It even has religious symbolism.

I have a glass top table in our kitchen and the finger prints that once stressed me, now remind me that with four teenagers, there is still table activity. I still believe whoever is home should be at the dinner table. There were times growing up when the world would call and my dad would step away from the table. There was the time I sat at the table for the last time before heading out to my own apartment. There were the times I sat by myself and reheated my dinner as a single mom. There was the conversation at the table when Morgan let her wall down with Ridley. There were the nights Ridley sat with a calculator and went back and forth from praying and figuring on how to make the church budget work. Ahhhh, the table and all its memories.

In reading my Bible this afternoon I found this verse, "May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forward." (Psalm 69:22 & 23) At first reading, this didn't sound anything like the sweet table memories I have. I did some digging and realized that God is referring to the unbelieving. The message was to those who feast on the things of the world and become blind to the things that are good for them. When the delights of the world combine with corruption of our nature, then we don't see what we really need to feed ourselves in a healthy way. False desires become the fuel for sin in our lives and our feasting table becomes a snare.

As you pull up a chair tomorrow to some of the most beautiful tables and some of the tastiest foods, I pray that your focus and your heart is healthy. May you smell the aroma of Christ in your life. May you be completely filled with the love of Christ. May you desire His best in your life. May you let Him prepare the table where you can find the most complete satisfaction. May you be grateful for His grace and faithfulness. Sit with a new awareness of gratitude. God may have decorated your table a little different than you pictured this season, but He is absolutely the best at knowing what you needed. Taste and see that the Lord is so good and stay a while. Sit at His table and rest. He is waiting for you to pull up a chair.