Have you ever gone to sit down for a meal, or at a meeting, and saw there weren’t any seats left for you to sit at the table? Did someone make room for you? Did you have to go find another table?
Over the past few months, I have been thinking about this very thing. I’ve felt like God has been asking me who I’ve made room for at my table. I was recently at an event where someone had originally had a seat at the table and when they got up, someone took their seat. Then they grabbed another seat and had to get up again for something, and their seat was taken again. Before she knew it, all of the seats at the table were taken and there was no room for her. She never once said a word about it, but I saw it happen. I looked at her and said “when you are ready to sit down, I will pull you up a chair and make room for you.” This was a simple thing and we weren’t going to be sitting for long, but I could see the relief on her face when I said, “I will make room for you.”
I’m here to encourage you that there is someone that will always make room for you at the table and that is God. In fact, God desires for you to sit at his table. He wants to dine with you every day. When I think of sitting with someone at the table, I think of relationship. That’s really what it is. When we sit with someone at the table, we are walking in relationship with them. Whether we have known someone for many years or we are just getting to know them, relationships really do form around the table. When we sit at the table with God, we are walking in relationship with him. When Jesus shared his last meal gathered around the table with his disciples, he was walking in relationship with them.
There is a family that I know that I have witnessed make room at their table for literally everyone. There have been multiple times when I was at their house and someone would randomly show up for a visit and they would stop everything they were doing to invite them in to visit with them around their table. There were other times when there really wasn’t room for someone else at the table and they would make room. Why do they do that? Because they want everyone to know they are welcome, no matter what the circumstance. They want to walk in relationship with all that come to their property.
When I think about the times I really get to know someone well there are two places that come to mind. Around the table or in the living room. Whether we are partaking in a meal together, enjoying a cup of coffee or simply having a meeting, we can really get to know each other in those conversations that occur around the table. It’s not uncommon for me to have someone over for dinner and we never leave the table the entire time they are there. Even when we are done eating, we still continue to sit around the table and talk about what’s going on in our lives. In fact, it happened today with my family. We weren’t at my house, but we were at my parent’s house. Even after the meal was over, many of us gathered around the table where we had been sitting and continued to catch up on things going on in our lives.
I have some friends in my life that have said “Melissa, you always have a seat at our table” and I know they mean it. At first, it started as a joke because one of their kids told his parents that he would just put his stuff in “Ms. Melissa’s seat” when he was asked to clean the table because I wasn’t there. His parents told me that even to their kids, I have a seat at their table. I mean it made sense. I was there a lot for dinner and it was the seat I always sat in. I soon realized that, that statement went so much deeper than just the fact that I was in their home often. It had to do with relationship. It had to do with us growing closer together and me becoming part of their family. It had to do with the fact that I had both laughed and cried at that same table. It had to do with the fact that we had tough conversations at that table, the kind of conversations that really make you grow. It had to do with the fact that they told me they were proud of me at that table. It had to do with the fact that we built each other up at the table and encouraged one another. All of these things happened because we have a relationship with one another.
When God invites us to sit at his table, it is because he wants to have a relationship with us. He wants us to spend time with him. He wants us to commune with him. He wants us to get to know him deeper. He wants to tell us the hard things, the things that make us grow. So, when I say there is always room at the table with God, it to has to do with relationship. There is always room at the table of God.
As we continue in this holiday season, many of us will gather around the table with one another. I encourage you to think about who you are making room for at the table. And if you ever find yourself sitting alone at the table, remember that you always have a seat at God’s table. I am so thankful that God has given me so many people that I can sit with at the table. However, sitting alone at the table is not a bad thing either when it means you get to spend time with the Lord. So when you are wondering who you should allow to sit at your table, I encourage you to invite God to take the first seat and then invite others to join you. Be blessed this holiday season and every season after.