The table matters and all of society knows it. From formal meals to wedding rehearsal dinners, from presidential dinners to picnics in the park, tables are chosen, decorated, and gathered around.
In the last few months, I have had the opportunity to go with my husband to some of his business events. All of them have involved sitting down to eat together. Each event, whether formal or casual, involves the initial standing and greeting, but the expectation is always eating together. There, as we all gather around the table, a barrier comes down. It is as if to say, "here we are doing something that is most basic and yet most divine". We eat for sustenance, and yet the gift from the Giver is we also eat for pleasure. Eating together forms the bonds that hold our families and, ultimately, our society together.
Yet it seems these beautiful core values have been sacrificed for business and technology. Why have families given this away? Could it be a reflection of where we are as a world? Maybe the escalating break up of families and lives is a reflection of the break up of values. When my family comes and sits together we have said, "my day, my work, my pleasure was worth stopping; this time with you is more important than anything else I was doing".
That is why the table matters.
