[image credit here] Image discredit: This looks nothing like my family at dinner.
Plates spinning.
Balls juggling.
Irons in the fire.
Call it what you want, but life has just felt BUSY. And even when it’s not busy, my mind is so busy. (Why must my mind constantly to-do list? Why?) My children are still relatively young, and I try desperately not to overbook them, but the calendar still makes me dizzy some weeks. Cub scouts, parent-teacher conference, homeowners meetings, visiting teaching, etc.
Isn’t it true that we often get so busy? And, sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life.
Ugh. I don’t think it’s a badge. If it were, I could take it off, and I would. Oh, I would. And I know it’s not a superior life, because my idea of a superior life has something more to do with beaches, books, and not a calendar to be found. But I’m not blameless, and I know I can always use a little prioritizing and my to-do list would benefit from some erasing. The quote continues…
I think of our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, and His short life among the people of Galilee and Jerusalem. I have tried to imagine Him bustling between meetings or multitasking to get a list of urgent things accomplished.
I can’t see it.
Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day. When He interacted with those around Him, they felt important and loved. He knew the infinite value of the people He met. He blessed them, ministered to them. He lifted them up, healed them. He gave them the precious gift of His time.
People. Time. Purpose. One of the things I cling to during the busy seasons is dinnertime. At least we can sit down together and all look at each other in the face and remember we belong to each other. We do scripture study early in the morning too, but sometimes people don’t look at each other, on account of their eyes being swollen shut with sleep and all. But at dinnertime, we can finally breathe a little and try to talk over a meal. I am still light years away from making those meals much to brag about (tonight was mac&cheese), but we set the table and sit down and eat. My children are just young enough that a lot of their table talk makes me wonder why family dinner was a good idea in the first place (farts and boogers, anyone?), but at least it’s entertaining.
[I recently received a copy of book called “Table Talk” by John and Tina Bushman, and it’s full of ideas of NORMAL and halfway intelligent questions to discuss with your kids over the dinner table. Some of them are a tad advanced for my little ones, but some can lead in to cool conversations, like after Matt’s grandma died, we could talk about stuff like “What do you believe happens to a person’s soul when they die?” Anyway, you can find it here if you’re interested.]
In my fantasy world, someday my children will look back with nostalgia at our time sitting around the table together. And I’m sure they will all be successful, happy, and glowing because of it. Elder Dallin H. Oaks cautioned,
The number of those who report that their “whole family usually eats dinner together” has declined 33 percent. This is most concerning because the time a family spends together “eating meals at home [is] the strongest predictor of children’s academic achievement and psychological adjustment.”3 Family mealtimes have also been shown to be a strong bulwark against children’s smoking, drinking, or using drugs.4 There is inspired wisdom in this advice to parents: what your children really want for dinner is you.
Diapers and Divinity 
I wonder if they are related to Richard Bushman. I ill ask him, Sounds like a book I should own. I miss your kids, and their boogers,;)
We just got that book, and I think it’s amazing!! My 9 year old surprises me by choosing the questions I thought would be more for the “teenage” years. I think it’s a great goal to have more meaningful conversations. 🙂
This is one thing that I am pretty good, single parenthood notwithstanding. The food isn’t always fancy, but I appreciate how important this time together is. I had a date not too long ago and my date was very surprised to hear that my kids and I sit down together for breakfast and dinner every day. I guess he was raised in a family where sit-down meals were a rarity. I am grateful that it’s one of the things I can do for my kids that makes my non-traditional family feel a little more like the ‘normal’ ones.
You asked for a favorite dinner, right? Here is one we have often. I don’t actually like it, but everyone else does. (I might be turning very slightly vegetarian, but don’t remember that when we go out to lunch and I order a steak.) When the big package of ground beef is on sale, I buy it up and make the whole thing into meatballs. (just seasoned with that powdered onion soup stuff) Then bake them on a rimmed baking sheet for 30 minutes until they’re done, then cool them, then drop them into Ziploc freezer bags (I’m only brand-particular on a few things, and this is one of them). Then, on a quick-dinner night, I can pull out 5 or 6 meatballs per eater, pour in some bottled spagetti sauce and heat it up. Meanwhile, I broil some provolone cheese on sub buns. Pull out the buns, pour on the meatballs and sauce, and that’s the end. (Plus salad, for me.)