The Table

   

          I was convinced, back in my high school days, that I would grow up to marry a pastor. Back in those days, at least in our part of the world, pastors’ wives were supposed to sing in the church choir, play the piano, and run the children’s ministry. I erroneously told myself I could sing, and I was all about running the children’s ministry. I hoped whatever pastor picked me would overlook the glaring truth that I was not cut out for playing the piano. Ever.

            I also had it in my head that pastors’ wives did a lot of tea-party style entertaining throughout the week. I am not sure where I got that idea, since that was not true of any pastor’s wife I knew in real life. But in my little novel-laden head, that’s how it went. I would make and freeze cookies and have them ready to pull out at a moment’s notice when people stopped by to chat.

            A combination of my own fairy-tale world and the wild changes in the social atmosphere of the real world have led me to conclude that had I actually married a pastor, this would not at all have been what my life looked like. And then, of course, I didn’t marry one, so…I haven’t done a lot of tea-party hosting from behind a white picket fence.

            So maybe we don’t live in a fifties kind of world where people hang out for tea in the afternoons. (Maybe they didn’t then either – I don’t know.) But there is still something beautiful that draws me about the kitchen table. I still have the desire to share fellowship with the people in our lives. Pre-pandemic, we had “Tuesdays at the Table” every other week or so. Some of you who have been reading here for a while might remember that! We would invite friends over on a Tuesday evening to have dinner together. We did it until Ryan’s mom got sick and then during her illness/death/the time following her death, we took a break. We were getting back to it when the pandemic hit, and we haven’t done it since.

            We are starting to get to know people in our community, and we want to invite them in to get to know them even better. We want to share life and meals with them. We want to enjoy the leisure of an evening together, enjoying fellowship over the table and then maybe a sunset over the lake.

            I glance at our table often throughout the day. It sits in view of my perch at the desk, and each time I see it, I see the possibility of fellowship and friendship forged in that little room. I might not be pulling out frozen cookies to bake and share, but I have great hope and grand dreams that we can share meals, snacks, and stories across the table before us.