At the Table

At the Table

(“And he said to me, ‘This is the table that is before the Lord.’” Ezekiel 41:22b)

The restaurant was darker than most, the walls splayed with
lights of neon green. The large booth received us well, our family
that dines together and fills the air around us with high notes
of merriment,
low notes
of secrets,
intervals of silence between an almost-forgotten joke
and the beginnings of laughter (the respectful kind
that knows a father’s punchline well before he gets there.)

Before the food ever arrives the server greets our little tribe,
and we would feed her too if she didn’t have other things to do.
Philippine Paella family style is the majority vote and
the food arrives before the royal princess can finish
her third story about her best friend and learning Mandarin,
and cousins and the new dog that owns the home.
She carries the conversation at six and nearly seven;
theater and spotlight runs deeply in her veins.

Once a year our scattered family tries to meet; the
hug is Minneapolis with Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore,
California and the Pacific Northwest the remote abodes
strewn across the continent.

We fish our favorites out of the giant pan before us,
sweet mussels and sea salt clams, luxuriant crab and
salacious shrimp, along with sausage, fragrant and spice.
All of it resting upon rice turned playful in the saffron sauce.

Food needs a table, meals need a family; we never remember
the quick peanut butter sandwich at home for lunch or
the leftover meatloaf spread across competing rooms for dinner.
One does homework, another reads, and others watch Jeopardy
with memories barely jarred.

Lord, Your table is spread, made ready for our hunger. We need
so much more
than we ask for or order.
So teach us to remain long after the check has arrived,
help us remember the clatter of kitchen sounds
every time we find ourselves eating and drinking
together

At the Table of the Lord.