“You prepare a table before me” Psalm 23:5a
One of my fondest memories of being a little girl was waking up on Sunday mornings. Looking back, I realize that God had the sweetest table prepared for me on Sundays. I would get ready for church with the beautiful piano music echoing through the house, compliments of Daddy. In retrospect there was a precious chaos those mornings as 4 little girls were hurried into the car and disbursed to the different Sunday School classrooms. But my favorite part of the day was when I would burst through the front door after church and run into a wall of the aroma of a roast cooking. Sometimes Mother would prepare the table, setting each plate down carefully; other times we would be recruited. I can close my eyes and still hear the opening and closing of the corner hutch where the plates resided. I can hear the clatter of the silverware being plucked from its tray, and the ice being dropped down in the glassware. And as I open my eyes to my memory, I am reminded that back then all the chairs were full.
As an adult God has prepared some amazing tables for me. They’ve included tables of celebration and laughter… tables of conversation with friends…tables of babies growing into toddlers and toddlers into young adults. But there have also been tables of heartbreak such as the 2008 Christmas when I hosted the Miller clan. Sadness mixed with sweet fellowship as I watched my younger sister Beth celebrate what would most likely be her last year of life. There are memories of our breakfast room table when Bruce’s dad lived with us his last year of Alzheimer’s…I can still hear the clanking of his spoon against his cereal bowl in the mornings. Although these were sad tables, they were important and precious tables. They were tables where God allowed beautiful preparation for their journey home. They were tables that would hold memories that no death can take away. Around those tables sat opportunities to love, laugh and live to the fullest degree. I am so grateful that in every gathering we broke bread together no matter what was going on.
We all have tables that God has prepared for each of us…different seasons where every item has been perfectly placed there for our spiritual consumption. No matter what you are going through at this present time God has already gone ahead of you, set the perfect provisions for you and will fellowship with you until the end of the meal. He is our Bread and our portion in all times…in all ways…in all circumstances.
“Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness…and you shall eat bread at my table continually.” 2 Samuel 7
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