During our debrief in Hong Kong, Andrew Sherman, one of our leaders, talked about his love for the kitchen table. Anyone who knows me knows I love to cook and eat. =) I automatically liked his reasons for loving the kitchen table. I had never thought about it in the way he described before. 
After our conversation I realized how much I loved the kitchen table as much as he does. It makes so much sense and 3 months later I’m still chewing on what he said.
The kitchen table is where it’s at! It’s where we enjoy fine food and “beverages.” It’s where we fellowship, talk about life, and love. We argue and rejoice there. It’s a place of intimacy.
I’ve always loved to cook. It’s one of the gifts I wonder how God is going to use in my life. One of the greatest joys of cooking is watching someone enjoy the food you prepared. Somehow you feel a part of creating food and joy. Good food can set the stage for intimacy and the exchange of love and life. I love it!
During this month I have been challenged. At times I’ve had feelings of bitterness, frustration and pain in unexpected ways. I’m not consumed by these feelings, but I think I’ve been more sensitive and moody than usual. Most days are good and others I look in the mirror and wonder what’s up. At times I want to blame it on being in a house full of women whom I love, but who I’ve been around for 10 months. Other times I think it’s because of the excess of materialism I’m around and how I feel the pull of the black hole that I only felt in the States. Most of the time I think it’s because I will go home in a month. The truth is all the above have had an effect on me, but it would be an excuse if I said those were the reasons why I have felt these feelings. I believe these things can only bother me if I let them, and at times I have. I heard someone say that most people react to evil or the things that come against them and in comparison respond less to God. There is so much the Lord has been revealing, speaking, and beckoning me to; I know that’s why the other stuff has been coming at me. But the Lord has been so good! He has kept me and is guiding me!
One of the main places where this stuff has seemed to fade away is at dinner. There is no real formula, I just think the presence of love and intimacy has helped to break things like frustration and being moody! Love does cover all things.
Being here in Antigua has been a blessing. We were able to rent a home for the month, and this home is ridiculously nice. The homes in Antigua are nothing short than luxury, a little different than my tent in Africa. We have a backyard, beds, and full kitchen with everything I needed to throw DOWN and cook! Can you believe it was 50% cheaper to rent than to stay in the hostel? $3 dollars a day, you can’t beat that. The kitchen table has helped me to remember the importance of intimacy, fun, and fellowship. Not to mention the importance of good food! =) Almost every night we come together to cook food. We join hands and pray. We eat, joke, share our hearts, and play games. We are a family and have acted as such more than usual because of the kitchen table.
And no wonder! Psalm 23:5 says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
Some of Jesus’ most profound statements and symbolic acts were done at the kitchen table. He did the breaking of bread, drinking of wine, and washing of his disciple’s feet. He shared the future and his fate with them.
Growing up, I wasn’t too fond of the kitchen table. I was fond of the food, just not talking for some reason. My mom is the best cook in the world by the way. I found it hard to escape conversations and being vulnerable, so when got older I loved being engaged by the TV while eating. I still do sometimes. My mom hated it, and rightly so.
Why is it we love the holidays so much? I think a lot has to do with eating around that huge table with all the food. Hearing all the same stories and talking about politics. =) After dinner I’d find myself talking with my cousins and then my uncles, listening to stories and laughing until my face hurt. And at the end of the night, right before everyone would go home, my family would say to each other, “we should do this more.” I miss my mother’s cooking, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ve missed the past three Thanksgiving’s and this last year’s Christmas. I would sneak in the kitchen the night before Thanksgiving and Christmas. I´d take a little bit of the potato salad and sneak away with some cherry bars and cookies. When I say little, I mean an entire plate full. I waited all year, ya know! I still do it. Then the family would come over the next day and I would stuff myself into a coma with my mother’s cooking and my aunts’ disserts. Life doesn’t get any better.
I love Gods model of intimacy. “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies!” In most houses, in the 1st world, there is a kitchen table; the place where most families come together. Not every family uses it or makes time to. But the table remains. I remind myself daily of the “kitchen table” in my life. The table between me and the Lord, the one he has already set and sits at until I join him. It’s the place where I have laid down all my bitterness, frustrations, fears, and pain! It’s where I have found comfort, forgiveness, and restoration of my spirit. There’s a fulfillment that’s beyond the satisfaction of food. It’s the fullness of love and understanding that only comes from the one who made you. “Man does not live on bread alone.” That table exists at the foot of my bed, in the heat of pain and frustration, and when all has seemed to fail.
