The Table

I read an article a couple of months ago that I think about quite often.  It has stuck with me because I felt like the author had read my exact thoughts.  Lil scary.  It was on sacred moments.  And so here begins my thoughts:

Sacred moments.  We can't have them if we don't create a space for them.  I just so happen to be a big fan of sacred moments.  My most sacred of moments take place in mostly two places.  Sitting around a table or riding in the car.  This is important.  Listen up.  I fully believe we all need a table.  This doesn't have to be a real live table.  Just a place that you can go.  To see one another.  To hear one another.  And to just be with one another.  Amen.  I need this.  A lot.  My table is usually in the car.  Some of my best talks are in the car.  (I'm kind of stubborn and for some reason the car brings out my real thoughts..)  The table is where you share thoughts and stories.  The table is where friendships are built.  There will be days that bad crap happens.  There will be days when people fall apart.  When things fall apart.  Things that you and I can't fix.  All we can do is offer ourselves.  Be present.  Walk with people through the crap.  That's literally all that we can actually do.  It's called being present.  We can listen.  We can pray.  We can love.  The table is where we build it all.  We build up for those days.  But, we've built something that is strong.  The table is the place where we get put back together. 

I love what she says here:

"I want you to stop running from thing to thing to thing, and to sit down at the table, to offer the people you love something humble and nourishing, like soup and bread, like a story, like a hand holding another hand while you pray. We live in a world that values us for how fast we go, for how much we accomplish, for how much life we can pack into one day. But I’m coming to believe it’s in the in-between spaces that our lives change, and that the real beauty lies there."


The table is about time.  Being present.  Fully present. Not wondering what you have to do next.  The table is timeless.  It's where we get real.  We say how we are.  We tell the truth.  I have this humongous pet peeve lately.  I feel like people have been walking around putting on this show.  This show of "life's always awesome.. all the time."  Sometimes I just can't take it.  I just like for people to be real. 

Where I live, at supper, we go around the table and have to give a number between 1 and 10.  Plus a little explanation of why you are what you are.  It's a tiny way to do a little self accounting.  I recently had been dreading it because my numbers have been a little on the low end... But, I'm thankful someone is asking.  I'm thankful to get to sit around the table with those friends.  I'm thankful that we make time to listen.  I also do a lot of thinking slash sharing in the car.  One friend knows that.  And she will just drive me around Mt. Perfect until I spill whatever I have been storing up...  Sometimes it takes several tours around Mt. P until I have the guts to get it all out...  Poor friend.  I word vomit all over her car...  But, alas, that is my table.  And I need it.

The table is sacred because it's neutral.  We don't have to come to prove something.  Or defend something.  We come because we are hungry.  We need it.  It's sacred.  It's safe.  We stop trying.  We can just be.  We allow someone else to come in.  We allow someone to walk alongside.  All day long we are thrown messages that we need to do, do, do.  We need to be better, have more, work harder.  We are taught that we shouldn't have needs or hurts.  The table negates all of that.  We allow someone else to see our humanness.  Our insecurities.  Our weaknesses.  They also get to see all the good parts.  They get to see our strengths.  Our passion.  Our true hearts.  Time at the table is so important.  (At least to me) 

She closes with this:

"If the home is a body, the table is the heart, the beating center, the sustainer of life and health. Come to the table."

My prayer is that each of you have a table.  A place to go.  People to share life with. 

Eat up,
SRS