Time at the Table

This post has been a long time coming in my head, it's time to get it onto paper!


Back when I decided to start this blog, I spent a lot of time thinking about what to name it.  After a great deal of time, pondering and research, I landed on "Time at the Table".  To me, that title had so much significance.  One--I love to cook and bake, provide sustenance for my friends and family.  It is a passion and honestly, a real stress reliever.  I find myself at my mixer more often than not some days!  Second, I have a husband and three children and one thing that we always do is eat dinner together as a family, at our kitchen table.  Depending on our schedule, it may be an early dinner at 4:30 or a very late one after ball games at 9...but either way, the time spent at our table is a valuable investment in our family and a true blessing in our sometimes very busy days.  It is where we connect....laugh...share....tease....sometimes argue....invest in each other.  It is our safe place as a family unit, no judgement.....just acceptance, encouragement and love. 


Perhaps that is why a new blog post has literally taken years to post.  My table looks a lot different these days.  In 2019, my son headed off to college in Colorado.  Moving him out was a difficult and emotional time for me.  And, I found myself most emotional when I went to set our table......and only needed 4 plates instead of 5.  More than once I wiped away tears while standing next to our kitchen cupboard staring at the stack of plates.  This past August, we moved my daughter to college in northwest Iowa.  Wow, I thought the second one would be easier.  NOPE.  Again, many emotions that I still am dealing with.  And now, I set the table for 3.  This change is not easy, the adjustment is not quick.  My heart aches to have a full dinner table, to hear the teasing, laughing and to be honest, even the arguing.  The quietness that is now the norm is deafening at times.


This gradual change in my dinner table leads me every day to a different table....the Lord's table.  A table I need to visit each and every day to process my feelings and feel His peace.  To pour out my fears, worries, hurts.  To thank Him for the blessings that he gives me each and every day.  To entrust my adult children, high school daughter and husband into His care.  This is where I find TRUTHS that point me to the moments of pure joy that are in this season as well.  Peeks into the freedoms that are beginning to come my way as I try to remember who I was before I was a full time mom....moments of such pride as I see my two college kids find their own success and joy in college, or see them work through challenges as their own people. 


For those of you beginning to empty your nest like me, I see you.  I feel your struggle between the pride of having done your job well and sending your beloved chicks out into the world and yet  wishing for the days that you were signing their field trip permission forms and packing their lunch.  It is not easy, it takes time--but there is JOY to come! 


Every year in January I pick a word for the year.  For 2019, the word has been EMBRACE.  Embrace the changes that have come my way, embrace changes that will come, embrace the new experiences, embrace the new found freedoms, embrace the challenges and trials....everything that is my story in this year.  But most importantly, to embrace my heavenly father each day....read my bible, spend time memorizing his TRUTHS that comfort me, bring me strength and encouragement.  This has not come easily some days.  I don't really like the new normal.  I don't feel like embracing it :-)  I don't have time to spend in God's word.  I don't want to focus on the positives and the blessings in this situation.  But it is important and it changes my outlook and perspective when I do. 


I encourage you, no matter what your stage of life, to make it a priority to spend some time at God's table.  Laugh, cry, be thankful, be angry, let it out to the only One who can satisfy the longing in our heart.  My kitchen table may be working towards being empty, but my Father's table is full every day...full of everything I need to make it through this season, find the joy, look forward to the next season and all that comes with it.


EMBRACE this season of your life...EMBRACE the joy...EMBRACE the loneliness....
EMBRACE the changes....EMBRACE the pride of a job well done...EMBRACE the new found freedoms..... and then, let the Lord EMBRACE you.


Lamentations 3:22-25
The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.  "The Lord is my portion", says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him".  The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.