A Return to Table Life
Shannon S. McKee is communicator at heart. She is a writer, editor, and speaker. She writes at www.shannonsmckee.com. She coordinates the Women's Ministry at Redemption Chapel in Stow, Ohio, where she is a regular teacher and mentor. She is passionate about helping women thrive from the inside out. Her other titles include: Grace-dweller. Lover of Rick. Momma to 2. Tea Drinker. Entrepreneur. Putterer. Consumer of Dark Chocolate.
We used to observe regular family meals here in the McKee household. For most of the elementary years, it was an assumed staple of our homelife. We sat down to eat. Together. Most nights of the week.
It was like that in our home for a lot of years. UNTIL… the kids hit the tween and teen years. Their evenings started to fill up with activity. Which coincided with a period of time in my own heart and life that was not a time of thriving. (I’ll just leave that there.) Needless to say, I stopped really fighting for table life and family meals. I didn’t invite people over as much and I wasn’t being very intentional to bring the McKee Four to the table at the same time. Family meals were happening once or twice a week a week. Maybe?
I could blame that on their schedules. Or our schedules. I could blame it on the drain of the teenage years and the accompanying tension that was sometimes at our table. I could blame it on the demands of launching a new, rapidly growing church. I could blame it on the changes to my home-work balance and schedule. I could blame it on just being sort of bored with the daily grind of cooking.
All of those are legit realities. It was really a mix of all of them. But, the bottom line is that I stopped fighting for that time. I stopped making it a priority and pushing us toward it. Both inwardly as a family and outwardly by inviting others to come into that space with us. It just sort of fell by the wayside, part of the carnage of our modern, busy lifestyle.
In recent months, some of that desire has been rekindled. We’ve been having people over for soup and bread on Sunday nights. I have been returning to planning and creating in the kitchen. I’ve been more motivated to care for my little family in that way. Most importantly, I’ve been reminded that it’s good – not just for our bodies but for our souls as well. But even with my rekindled desire, there was still the pesky issue of our schedules. How do you stop that train once it is barreling down the tracks? Answer: a pandemic.
Hopefully that’s not what it will always take to get things turned around!! But, sometimes we need a do-over and it takes something big to get us there. I have to admit that we’ve been at the table together a lot more during this difficult season. And for that, I’m thankful.
What about you? How has God used this time to rekindle one of your passions or personal disciplines?
RHG Magazine TM - July 2020 © All rights reserved.