A Healing Table: Nourishing Relationships and Reconciliation at the Table

The Art of Gathering Series plus a Simple Charcuterie Guide

It was summertime and the bright days were continual- yet my soul felt dark, wrapped in loneliness. It was deafening the silence of friendship in the midst of being surrounded by people. I was home with sick kiddos and a dog, surrounded yet so alone and isolated. I had done all the right things. I spent time cultivating friendships that were life giving, I invested in them, and I showed up faithfully; but for me no one was showing up. I let them know I was struggling and then despair set in. As a result,the desire to run away was overwhelming, but run where? I didn’t run far; in fact, I didn’t run at all. I just took one small step in front of the other. I took walks to the pond and let the beauty of the ripples wash over me.I continued to train myself to look for the beauty from God that was sure to be found. I tried, I really did but my thoughts would wander again to “Where are they?”or “Why haven’t they come”? Again I would fix my thoughts on goodness and beauty but my negativity felt like a swift current coming by to disrupt them. I had not sat down at the table with my closest friends for a month and half, and it felt as if they had been gone for a year. Maybe it was the antibiotics or the toll of sickness in our family for an entire month but my weakened state of mind could not improve in isolation,I needed to be brave about my loneliness and humbly ask the question, “Where were you guys?”

Before this could happen I needed to sit at the table the Lord was calling me to. “Come and sit with me and learn to trust me fully,” His invitation beckoned. Again my thoughts swirled out of control to what I didn’t have when I actually had everything I needed, but I was having a hard time accepting it. “Aren’t we built for community? How come no one has come?” I would say to the Lord. “ I am here,” He would whisper. Psalm 23 would remind me that it was He who set the table for me. He would also be the one to heal me and restore me, He was the only one strong enough to bring this pass. It was sitting with Him and remembering that He would never leave and my heart would begin to settle so that I could listen. His soft reminders that everything I needed for today He had already provided, were balm. Quietly through His unending love for me his constant presence and grace began to break the hardness I had constructed around my heart. He faithfully, not only showed up but He also set the table for me by inviting me back again and again when I would wander wayward and stubborn. My heart was becoming tender towards mercy, grace, and forgiveness. I could show up vulnerable at the table with my friends but not bulldoze them with my questions. Instead I would open up a conversation in which we could find the way back to each other’s hearts.

We are hurt in relationship and we heal in relationship.
Julia Hurlow

So, we met at the table and began our time together with nourishment and laughter. We celebrated together with gifts and words of truth with the Word of God as our guide.He was doing something new, could we perceive it? The verse in Isaiah 43:19 was one of the verses that gave us hope during this hard conversation. It was because of his goodness that we could come to each other and it was his power that would help us find our way back to real intimacy again.The truth was that we had hurt each other without noticing it. We had left the room so to speak. Each one of us turned inward, we had suffered alone and had hurt the friends we love most.There were tears, but they were soothed by grace,forgiveness and understanding. Because we had a good foundation for this hard work to take place in, the table became an altar on which we could see the goodness of God in the land of the living (Psalm 27)

“Whether it is a picnic table, a church fellowship hall set up with folding tables, a front porch, or a dining room within a house, there is something about sharing a meal that unifies people.”
Julia Hurlow (Transcendence at the Table)

So, that unity of friendship in community alongside the Holy Spirit was strengthened once again. This time it was through the hard work of being vulnerable, rooting in truth, and planting seeds of reconciliation. We would stay in the room and not isolate when things got tough. We reminded each other again that we would tell each other the truth laced in love and wisdom. The table again gave us space to be true to each other but only because He had set the table for us. He was the one that gave us the words, the strength, the faith, and the grace to help us find our way back to each other’s hearts without further hurt. It is truly grace upon grace the work He does through the table in our thirsty and malnourished souls as He gently deals with us and makes us more like Him.

‘ Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. ‘
Isaiah 43:19

A Simple Charcuterie Guide

What a perfect time to start honing your charcuterie skills withe holidays here! I have just the right thing to help you feel ready and confident while you gather. I created this simple and beautiful charcuterie guide for you. In my opinion it’s cute enough to display and then it would always be available for you! Plus, I am always honored to offer you practical content for purposeful and life giving time around the table. Check it out by clicking on the graphic below!