Making Room at the Table

Today's post is quite late in the day. My typical routine is to get up around 4:30 AM and then I read from various books, A Guide for Prayer for All Who Seek God, Wesley's A Christian Habit, and whatever books are feeding me at the moment. I spend some time in silent prayer, (see yesterday's post, , The Profit of Silence) and usually God inspires me to say something.

Today was a shift in routine. This is what occupied my early hours.

Food Pantry Distribution

The church I serve takes Jesus' expectation of his followers to feed the hungry quite literally and seriously. One Saturday a month we distribute boxes of food to people that need food. It is a simple equation.

NO FOOD + A BOX OF FOOD = CABINETS ND BELLIES ARE NOT EMPTY. 

It isn't rocket surgery. Sadly, most of the folks that visit our pantry are elderly suddenly faced with the task of raising their grandchildren. We fill and distribute close to 100 boxes a month. If we had more we could give more. If we opened weekly we would give away food weekly. 

I don't ever remember a time when there wasn't something in the kitchen to cook or fix to feed myself or my family. It may have been "surprise casserole" but we always ate. 

Surprise !!!

According to the Children's Defense Fund publication, The State of America's Children, 1 in 9 children live in households where food is insecure. So we do a meager effort to feed a few of those children.  What if...what if everyone fed someone. If it is only one in 9 and the average household size is 2.55 (according to the U.S. Census)  then each family that could feed a child could feed 2 or 3. It is easy, find a church that feeds like ours and share food, money, or time. Help organizations like, Feed America First or Second Harvest to provide low cost food to organizations like ours. But do something.

I would like to submit that the glory is in the doing. Writing a check, buying extra food at the store is great. But I love getting to know the regulars that come to us each month. I love building those relationships. It is great to get to know their grandkids, struggles and successes. It is so awesome when they see you as a friend and light up when they show you the latest picture of the new grandchild. 

I get to hear about highs, lows, sadnesses and frustrations in their lives. They ask me about my life, my family and the church. I could never do this with the writing of the check or worse yet the turning of the back.

Its all about making room for others in our lives.