Proverbs 15:17
A simple meal with love is better than a feast where there is hatred.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Early one afternoon in August 2009, my Mam-ma Polly (who was then 97) phoned me and said she was preparing dinner for my mom and her husband, Lee - did we want to come? I told her I would check with my [my husband] Greg, and she said, "I don't know what you and your momma will eat (Mom is diabetic - I have a corn allergy). I'm fixin' green beans, corn, sweet potatoes and a lemon pie." I asked her if I could bring some chicken, and she said, "Well your momma is bringing ribs. I told her I would just go out and get some ribs, and she said she already had ribs cooked."
I called Mam-ma back to tell her we would come for dinner and that I would bring some roasted chicken breasts. I also told her that I had checked with my mother, and she said she would take Mam-ma some potatoes to cook (Mam-ma's comment to me earlier was... "I only have 2 Irish potatoes.") We hung up, and Mam-ma called back ... "You can't eat cornbread, can you?" "No, but that is okay," I assured her, and she said, "Well, now... I'm gonna make a pan of rolls, too." For those of you who make homemade rolls, you know what a process this is! Granted, the more you do it, the faster you become, and Mam-ma did it for probably 90 years. But it's the stirring of that stiff dough that gives us trouble... and for someone nearly 97 with limited arm strength, it was a definite challenge - or should have been. However, her results were light, fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth delicious... and she sent the leftovers home with us! Yippee!!!
Call #4 was to ask if my sister and her husband were babysitting their grandson Timothy. “I wondered if they would want to come to supper, too." I told her to call and ask them, but... "do you have enough food?" She said, "Well... I don't know... but if we don't, at least we'll all be together." When we arrived, not only were my sister and her husband there, but my niece Jasmine and her baby Timothy were there, too... and we had more than enough to eat!
Such a seemingly simple thing as a family supper was such a day-long chore for the woman who prepared it. Mother and I cleaned the kitchen as Mam-ma tottered in and around us, finding containers for a "dab" of this and a "dab" of that to save as leftovers. I showed her the leftover roasted chicken breasts and broth I had brought, and I suggested she combine all of the vegetables with the meat and create a stew... a dish she seemed to enjoy because she could chew everything in it. Mam-ma put all of the leftovers into the refrigerator individually… I never knew if she made a stew or not.
I’ve thought about my grandmother’s comment a lot. Most of my life, she threw “a little dab of this and a little dab of that” together and created a virtual feast for a family of 7-10 at any given meal. She was the modern-day example of the “fish and five loaves”! But the food was completely secondary to the company. And that was the case at this meal. We were together as a family around her table… and as it turns out – this was the last time.
I think about other meals I’ve eaten in nice restaurants… thick, juicy steaks… seafood feasts… gourmet dishes prepared by highly regarded chefs… and all pale in comparison to the meals around my grandmother’s table. None of these “fancy feasts” could hold a candle to a birthday dinner lovingly prepared by my mom, as was the case just a month ago. There isn’t a steak dinner on the planet that could be as good as those my father-in-law used to grill for us and my husband’s brothers and their spouses. And when you get to the heart of the matter, it has nothing to do with food… it’s about the company and the sense of comfort, camaraderie, and peace.
In the same manner, this devotional has little or nothing to do with food. The point is that we look for peace and joy in the wrong places. We seek the things of this world… empty pleasures…when what we really need is to spend some time at the feet of Jesus… to come to His table and find the nurture we crave. We look for the world’s best steak, when the “meat” we really need is found in God’s Holy word. A true relationship with Jesus and His Holy Spirit is better than the richest piece of cheesecake or your favorite carton of Hagen Daz! If you want real peace … grace, mercy, forgiveness…true comfort and confidence that God is handling your worries and cares… come to Jesus’ table for “a little dab of this or that”. Quit trying to have what you think is “the finer things” of life… you’ve already got them in spades!
Haven’t you ever had a simple picnic with a friend that tasted like the best meal ever? This is what Jesus offers us today. His love is pure, unadulterated, and doesn’t come with a lot of “garnishes”… but you will never find anything that satisfies quite like it. And you will never find peace that compares. What are you waiting for? Jesus’ table has room for all of us… and blessings enough for leftovers! Will you accept His invitation and “come to supper?”
©2013 Debbie Robus
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