Family Dinners

Do you have a funny story, from a family dinner?

I have some from when I was a kid, and from now, as I have my own. One funny story is when me and my siblings were kids, we had a babysitter watch us, and let’s just say, we gave her a hard time. So in the heat of the moment, our babysitter cussed us and told us to get upstairs. 

The next day or two, we were having a family dinner, and our parents asked us how the babysitter was. So I began to tell them what happened, but I didn’t want to say the cuss word out loud. Because of this, I was stuck on how to say it; then, my sister stepped up to help me out. She interjects and says, “yeah, mom, she told us to get our ABC upstairs right now.” 

We all started laughing and it’s a moment that will be a part of our family forever. This is just one out of hundreds of stories we have while at, a family dinner.

Have you noticed, that family dinners mean more to us, than the food on the table?

Don’t get me wrong, having good food always helps and it’s a blessing, to have plenty to eat. But there’s more that happens around the table when we take time and sit together over dinner. 

Bonds are being formed, memories are being made and a culture of talking can be fostered.

This may be the most important because, if we don’t talk to our kids, someone else will. If we don’t listen to our kids, someone else will. With everything our kids are navigating right now, family dinners are a must for every home. Furthermore, as parents, spouses and adults, we need support too. It doesn’t matter if it’s Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s or Ruth Chris Steakhouse, the main thing is that you’re together and having open conversation. 

It’s my belief, that being intentional with our families, gives God a chance to do miracles in our families. Family dinners are one way we can do this.

In fact, there are promises God gives us that I believe, reflect the blessings of family dinners.

“1. How joyful are those who fear the Lord— all who follow His ways! 2. You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be! 3. Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table. 4. That is the Lord’s blessing for those who fear Him.”

Psalms 128:1-4

‭‭Notice, when we put God first, He blesses our homes and our family dinner tables with health, strength and longevity. This is what God wants for our homes because, He has a purpose in our homes. 

It’s vital we remember, God has promises and provision for our families. He has plans that are both for now and for the future. In God’s mind, He has a generational blessing that goes ahead of us. This is the promise we have; therefore, we must give God a chance to fulfill this.

So, how do we move forward?

First, I encourage you, make family dinner’s a priority. Set it up so, in the busy schedules you have time to see everyone’s face and have conversation as a group. This can be at home or in a restaurant but either way, move forward and make this happen.

Second, I encourage you to have phones turned off during dinner and at a certain time every night. I know as our kids get older this may be more difficult; however, too much of our time is isolating on our phones and this is not good. We must facilitate open dialogue and talk to each other. 

For us in our house, every night the phones are turned off at 7:30. We have time together and each of our children have a day in the week where they choose the conversation topic we will discuss. I want to know what’s going on around them and in them. Therefore, facilitating family dinners and having one on one time with them, helps me achieve this desire. I strongly encourage you, to discover what works for your home and do it.

Third, I encourage you, to pray as a family every day. This can be in the morning or at night but either way, having a moment together in prayer makes a big difference. The challenges, most of the time we may not feel like it or, it’s not a good time. But, when we are intentional about this, I believe it gets easier and of course, God is in it.

For us, Sunday night is big as we take communion as a family, pray together and discuss the upcoming week. It’s not long, but it’s impactful for our home. Please try different rhythms of this for your family and see what works. It may be awkward starting it and there may be resistance, but keep going, God will begin to work, when we give Him the chance.

So it’s my prayer, that all of our families have thriving dinners together that produce loving, kind, talking, caring and praying families.

You can have this and you can do it! 

Love you and the best is yet to come,

PD