John Ortberg has some great stories.
In a book I just had to share with you this morning he is talking about how important tables are in our relationships:
“One thing about tables, at least in my family, is that we always sit in the same places. My spot is across from Nancy and kitty-corner from our daughter Laura. Even after the kids moved out, whenever they came home they reclaimed their old chairs: Laura on one side, Johnny and Mallory on the other; and now Laura's husband, Zack, next to her. We never voted on this. There's no seating chart. Nobody made assign-ments. There's just something deep in the human soul that says, "I need to have my place at the table." I know it's true for me: I want to have my chair, and I want everybody in my family to have their chairs. And I kind of like it when their chairs are filled.
To have our own place at the table means we belong. We have an identity. We're somebody's sibling, somebody's parent, somebody's spouse. We're in.
For me, a table is a reminder that what really matters in life is relationships. We are hardwired for emotional connection to other people. We want to be known. We crave being loved.
We want to be accepted by someone who is completely aware of our gifts and our flaws and yet wants to be with us anyway.
In short, we crave intimacy.”
__________
I’d Like You More If You Were More Like Me: Getting Real About Getting Close, BY: JOHN ORTBERG / TYNDALE HOUSE /
One more selection from the book that made me laugh out loud:
“We had all three of our children in pretty short succession, and I remember what a triumph it was when we had our first meal together where nobody spilled, nobody cried, and nobody spit up. Our youngest was twenty-one by then, but that was still a great day in our family.”
I laughed out loud for a long time after that one. I told you he had some great stories.