Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Betsy Ore Glass

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. – Matthew 18:20 ESV

The dinner table is the heart of the family. Not only meals are served there, but important conversations are had. It is where manners and life lessons are learned. The family bonds and shares together. Everyone learns to listen. The shy learn to speak. There is time for storytelling and laughter. Homework can happen at the table along with craft projects. Tea time and coffee are had at the table and visitors pull up a chair to talk and stay a while. It is a safe place.

If phones are not silenced, the TV turned off or devices not shut down, the family time can suffer. That important conversation of catching up with each other is often missed. I loved growing up and eating at our little table. Mother would cook, I’d set the table. Daddy got the extra big iced tea glass with painted flowers and swirls around it. We’d talk. It was the beginning of our share time. I would chatter on and Mother listened, giving me an occasional nod of approval if I said something she liked. When Daddy came home, we were happy to hear about his day. He had to commute over an hour to work each day. He always had something to say. He was out in the “big world” and we loved hearing about it. We didn’t have devices back then to beep and chime at us to distract our time together and I am glad for it.

The kitchen table is also a place, most importantly, to introduce the family to devotions and prayer. It doesn’t have to be a big, ritualistic production. It is nothing to fear. It is simply a chance to make God a part of the family where talking or praying out loud to Him makes Him approachable, and it teaches the young children that a relationship with God is imperative. Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6 

Betsy Ore Glass has long-standing ties to the Outer Banks. From Virginia Beach, her family bought a vacation cottage in the 60s and her love of the area began. Later in the 90s, Betsy and her husband bought a weekend cottage and introduced the area to their children. Then Betsy’s parents retired to KDH where the family gathered often. Reach her at betsyglass1@gmail.com or read additional Reflections at www.betsyoreglass.com.

READ ABOUT COMMUNITY NEWS AND EVENTS HERE.

RECENT HEADLINES:

Hatteras roots: Fun crew pays visit to Jennette’s Pier

NC State Fair: Vaccinations encouraged, not required