THE FAMILY TABLE

"And when it was evening he came with the twelve. And as they were at the table eating, Jesus said. . . ." (Mark 14:17,18).

The some of the greatest memories are those surrounding the family table. I was cleaning the house, preparing for the arrival of a former minister and his wife. [Our church is celebrating its 125th anniversary. As part of the celebration, former ministers and "Timothy's" have been invited to speak the first Sunday of each month during the year. Helen and I are hosting this month, June.] As I changed the table cloth I remembered that this table is one that our guests would have gathered around, and eaten from, many years ago because this is the only table I remember being in my childhood home during their ministry with us. Returning to the farm in 1980, Helen and I inherited the table and raised our own children around it.

I suppose if this table were sold at an auction that it would bring very little. The legs have an ornate design, but the top is somewhat of an embarrassment to look at, and that is why it stays covered with a table cloth. Yet, that table tells the story of the Steele family history in a way no written word can tell. So, it will live on in our home until the day of my passing comes. Perhaps it will find its way to an auction where it will be sold for a "song." Who would want a table with a linoleum top? The top is a testimony to my mother's thrifty practicality--it is great for cutting up meat or processing vegetables. There is a burn mark in that linoleum table top from the time in 1953 during a terrible storm and the electricity was out that my sisters tried to make some light by starting a fire in a pan, my parents being occupied by livestock.

It is around this table that we started every meal with prayer, asking God's blessing on what we were about to eat. Food is always more filling and nourishing when it is eaten with gratitude and God's blessing, and with six hungry children, food needed all the blessing it could get. Dad always ended his prayers at that table with, "Bless this food to its intenda juice." I pondered for a long time what intenda juice was until I came home from college one time and heard, "intended use." The lessons about prayer that I learned from dad around that table I have tried to teach and model for my own children and grandchildren around that same old table.

I remember a lot of good times, important discussions, fellowship with dear friends and ministers. I bought my first life insurance policy at that old table. There were has been anger shown there, tears shed there, belly laughs laughed there, games played there and a lot of food and drinks spilled there. This is all normal stuff for raising a family and having friends. The rungs show the wear of all the big and little feet that have been there.

Helen has never complained about keeping that old dining-room table around. I suppose that is partly because she has a lot of history with that table too, and because she is like my mom, a practical woman who can use a sturdy table with a linoleum top, as well as being able to put up with my "quirkiness." Someday that table will probably sell at an auction for very little, but the memories, of which it bears the marks, are priceless!

Go now. Find a good sturdy dining-room table that you can make some good family memories around and make them. A good family table will always remind you of the really important things.

Grace&Peace,
Tom