31 Days of Living Art: Tables
(This is a late post for December 15 because I fell asleep before remembering to blog)
My church put together this really wonderful Christmas event, and it was so good to see our hard work pay off. Families came together, songs were sung, an inspiring message was heard, crafts were made, carriages were ridden, stories were heard. It was awesome.
But what happened after that is what really made my whole day.
My friend Taylir and I grabbed a pizza and went back to my apartment. We sat at my kitchen table for 2 hours and talked. I kept thinking about how we could just go sit on the couches in my living room, but there's something about tables.
Kitchen tables are an intimate part of a home. My mom always did a really good job of making us sit down and eat as a family-around the table-at least twice a week, despite the practices or meetings or whatever else our family of 5 had going on. I feel like the importance of what happens around a table has been engrained in my mind because of her ability to force us to slow down, come to the table, eat, talk, and just be.
Taylir and I sat for 2 hours, elbows propped up on my table or laying our heads down on it laughing hysterically. And while talking with her would have been great if we were sitting on my couches, there was something about sitting at the table that just seemed really sentimental to me. And maybe it's because I was beyond exhausted that I had a little sappy moment in my head, but it was still one of those moments that stand still and clear.
I remembered what my friend wrote about when we moved my table into my apartment:
"The table gives life and it pushes us. It's where we talk and listen. It's where we fight and make up. It's where we dream and get focused. Where we eat together and play cards. It's where we cry and forgive. I think about the last supper and the disciples asking Jesus where he wanted to eat the Passover, and Jesus told them about a man in a city, who had a house...with a table. Jesus said to go there, and he would meet them and eat the Passover. Most of us know those verses and the discussions that took place. But I love that the disciples had to find a table, it was time to engage. Jesus didn't lead them onto the water in that moment, or atop a scenic mountain with a star covered sky. He wanted them to come to the table.
My church put together this really wonderful Christmas event, and it was so good to see our hard work pay off. Families came together, songs were sung, an inspiring message was heard, crafts were made, carriages were ridden, stories were heard. It was awesome.
But what happened after that is what really made my whole day.
My friend Taylir and I grabbed a pizza and went back to my apartment. We sat at my kitchen table for 2 hours and talked. I kept thinking about how we could just go sit on the couches in my living room, but there's something about tables.
Kitchen tables are an intimate part of a home. My mom always did a really good job of making us sit down and eat as a family-around the table-at least twice a week, despite the practices or meetings or whatever else our family of 5 had going on. I feel like the importance of what happens around a table has been engrained in my mind because of her ability to force us to slow down, come to the table, eat, talk, and just be.
Taylir and I sat for 2 hours, elbows propped up on my table or laying our heads down on it laughing hysterically. And while talking with her would have been great if we were sitting on my couches, there was something about sitting at the table that just seemed really sentimental to me. And maybe it's because I was beyond exhausted that I had a little sappy moment in my head, but it was still one of those moments that stand still and clear.
I remembered what my friend wrote about when we moved my table into my apartment:
"The table gives life and it pushes us. It's where we talk and listen. It's where we fight and make up. It's where we dream and get focused. Where we eat together and play cards. It's where we cry and forgive. I think about the last supper and the disciples asking Jesus where he wanted to eat the Passover, and Jesus told them about a man in a city, who had a house...with a table. Jesus said to go there, and he would meet them and eat the Passover. Most of us know those verses and the discussions that took place. But I love that the disciples had to find a table, it was time to engage. Jesus didn't lead them onto the water in that moment, or atop a scenic mountain with a star covered sky. He wanted them to come to the table.
I think a lot of times the table gets drowned out by everything else in our houses or apartments, and our lives. We decorate the entire place and surround it with so much stuff. There are so many other things to look at. We pile junk on the table and use it for storage. If we happen to sit at the table we turn the TV on. We complain of being too busy. And if we're being honest, we don't like what the table brings. It causes us to slow down. It causes us to focus on each other. It causes us to talk. The table says, it's time to engage. And it's not the table that's significant, it's the opportunity. The opportunity for community, for relationship, for doing life with people who love you."
So while Taylir and I talked, at my kitchen table, I was reminded how thankful I am for that table and that my sweet friend was there with me to sit and talk about our joys and pains and dreams. I needed a night around the table.
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