Recently Deb and I decided we should have a table on our screened-in back porch that would be more functional to our needs. We have had a standard four-person patio table for several years. It worked fine for Deb and me. We almost always eat breakfast on the porch. As well, we ate many of our evening dinners at that table.
Our problem was when more than two people come to our home for a meal. When our kids and grandkids come over it's always four or five or more!
After some discussion, we decided what we needed was a long, narrow table. We thought a long, wide table would take up too much room. Plus, we generally dish the food out in the kitchen and carry our plates out to the porch. Therefore, we don’t need a table with all the food dishes sitting between us.
I have some two-inch thick slabs of wood in one of my sheds. So I decided to experiment. We had determined we had room for a nine-and-a-half-foot-long table. I cut a chunk of one slab, threw together make-shift leg supports from some scrap lumber, and set up a temporary table. Deb thought it looked great. So did a few others who came by the house. Then the real test. Several of our family members were here for a meal. So we gave the temporary set-up a try. Twelve of us gathered at the table and successfully use it for dining.
From that experience, I had two observations.
First of all, I noticed that when there is good food on the plates nobody pays any attention whatsoever to the table. Even though the experimental table was two inches too high because of my miscalculation when cutting the scrap lumber, no one cared. The table is simply a tool to hold a plate, a drinking glass, or a cup. The only time it matters what the table looks like is when it’s not being used!
The second thing that is noteworthy is that the table's appearance and size are not nearly as important as the people sitting with you at the table.
I suppose there are tables that are more important than others. There’s actually a table in our family that has quite a lot of sentimental significance. When Deb and I were planning to get married, we were told there was an old kitchen table in the cellar of our church and we were welcome to have it. Deb and I took the table, gave it a fresh coat of paint, and used it for many years. When our second child was born, my Dad and I cut the table in two and added some boards to make it wider. We then stripped the paint off it and stained and varnished it. When our fourth child came along we realized we had outgrown the little kitchen table. We bought a new table and the little table got put aside. However, when our oldest daughter got married, she needed a table. So off it went with her for a number of years until it became obsolete for her growing family. That table is now in the home of our youngest son and is still in use.
So I guess a table itself can be important. But still, it’s the people and memories around that table that give it real significance.
As I think about people sitting around a table, I have at times thought about who I’d like to sit with and enjoy a cup of coffee or a meal. Think about that. Who currently, or who in history would you like to have seated at your table? Just to get to know a little better.
I like to joke that one day I had lunch with Muhammed Ali. I did, kinda, sorta. It was many years ago in a fancy hot dog joint in the Chicago O’Hare Airport. Ali was seated across the aisle from me. He was close enough for us to fist-bump each other. We didn’t though. You need to be careful fist-bumping the heavyweight champion of the world. I nodded and said hi. He did likewise. Then others recognized him and swarmed around him like vultures trying to get his autograph.
But honestly, Muhammed Ali was never a person I had thought about when it came to sitting at a table and sharing a meal. But I have thought I like to sit at a table and eat with Alice Cooper, Dolly Parton, Brett Favre, or Bob Dylan.
I’ve also often thought about how amazing it must have been for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus to have sat at a table and unknowingly share a meal with Jesus. It wasn’t until He revealed Himself to them that they knew it was Him (Luke 24:30). I’m sure they couldn’t stop talking about their experience. I would love to have been in their shoes (sandals)!
You might think my list from Alice Cooper to Jesus Christ is kind of bizarre. But there’s another person I love to have sitting at our new table. You.
I’m generally on my second cup of coffee by 7:00 am. The porch door is unlocked. Bring a cinnamon roll and I’ll get another cup of coffee ready for you. We can sit, talk and get to know one another better.
It’s just a table. But it’s who’s sitting with you that makes it great.
