My Dining Room Table and Ministry

This morning brought a welcome change as I opened my window blinds and sunshine came pouring into the rooms of my home. Yesterday was one of those dark, cold, rainy, and windy January days when nobody wants to be outside.

But today, as the sun filled every corner of the room, as sunshine always does it illuminated dust and some crumbs on my dining room table.

I got a damp cloth and began wiping the table, and as I did, memory after memory flashed through my mind of years around that dining room table:

• Countless family meals - from when our kids were at home, to just the two of us, to the years when we began squeezing in married children with their spouses and now children and babies.

• The family devotions and planning and talking

• The homework and the homeschooling and test-taking and paper-writing that took place there.

• The craft projects and the scrapbooking that would fill the table and I would have to clear it all so we would have a place to eat.

• The years in Illinois when our decorated table held a bounty of appetizers and special desserts for the Christmas Open House that we hosted for our church every year.

• The many, many times church teenagers and college students gathered around the table for playing games and talking and eating pizza and tacos and sloppy joes.

• The times of fellowship and refreshments enjoyed there when we invited church board members and Sunday School classes and church members to our home.

• The times when we hosted evangelists, missionaries, and other pastors for meals and we would sit around the table for hours afterwards hearing their stories and learning from them. Some of these guests are now in heaven.

• So many times of coffee and counseling and Bible studies and tears and laughter at our table

When we moved, my husband tried to talk me into giving up our table in favor of a smaller one that would fit better into the space at our apartment. I couldn't do it, and because we don't have the money to buy another table, we didn't pursue it. And now I know why it meant so much to me. It's not just a piece of furniture. It is the memories connected with it, and most notably, the ministry that took place around it.

As all these memories filled my mind, I found myself in tears when I recalled all the times of ministry that had happened around our dining room table. A lot of people don't understand the significance of that, or our sadness at not being in full-time ministry right now. And unless you have been called to serve the Lord vocationally and have yielded to that call and spent most of your married life doing nothing but ministry, it probably will seem foreign to you. Simply put, it is about doing what we were called to do. We are trusting the Lord that if it is His will that in His perfect time He will open another door of full-time ministry for us again. If not, we have determined that we will be content in serving in whatever ways He opens to us. Which leads me to this thought:

We can, and should, still serve the Lord no matter what our life situation is.

One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." This verse really struck home while I was meditating on serving the Lord. A missionary speaker many years ago explained (and I have heard this same meaning expounded many times since that message) that the word "workmanship" means "masterpiece." Specifically, His "unique piece of poetry." Doesn't that make you understand this verse better? I have never forgotten that.

But the verse goes on to say that we were created to do good works, and God has prepared those ways for us to serve Him in eternity past. That means, friends, that good works and serving is not limited to "ministry."

I began thinking of the "good works" and serving that God has prepared for me, and that I can do right now - things that are just as important as full-time ministry. I want to remember not to lose sight of the everyday opportunities around me when searching for "big" ways to serve the Lord.

I can be a support and helper to my husband.
I can be an encourager and prayer warrior for our children.
I can be a role model of a Godly woman to our daughters and granddaughters.
I can share Scripture verses and the love of God in small kindnesses.
I can make someone's day better instead of harder.
I can teach and encourage through my avenue of writing.

I'm thankful for the years and opportunities of ministry around my dining room table. But as long as God leaves me here, He still has things for me to do. He does for you, too.

I think I will never look at my dining room table in the same way again.

Thoughtfully,
Kathi