Sunday we had a birthday party for my youngest son. I spent all day Saturday shopping and cooking until nearly midnight. After church on Sunday, I came home and started working on the food again until the party started at 4. Dave and I were still chopping fruits and vegetables when the first guest arrived early at 3:30.

I was excited to share some of our favorite things – cushaw pie and cushaw bread, a new mango salsa recipe and fresh tomato salsa from the garden. My husband Dave broke out “the world’s best summer sausage” from a little butcher shop in central Wisconsin, and made an attractive watermelon bowl that surprised even my son with the presentation of several fruits.

These parties aren’t outside my comfort zone. In fact, I used to socialize a lot. My photo albums and home video collections and social media posts from years past are full of visual memories of fun times where I used to spend time with others, especially at my house. But since Dave and I met about 2 years ago, we’ve not put on more than two of these big parties – one was our open house when we were married. The other was my youngest son’s 17th birthday. Our holidays are small, with only my four unmarried children who live locally and my dad attending.

For this birthday party, I knew people were coming to celebrate with my son, and I really wanted them to have an enjoyable experience and make a few of my son’s favorites.

At the appointed time, a dozen little kids made themselves right at home … and we loved it! They picked out brightly colored strawberries and baby bell peppers. Almost everyone had the yeast rolls… everybody loves my homemade yeast rolls. One woman, expecting baby number four, loved the chicken salad on the yeast rolls. We sent her off to her late shift job with her evening meal and extra rolls for her family. One sweet, happy mother oohed and awed over everything, raving over the salsa and cushaw pie and bread. We gave her an entire pie for her family.

My daughter, who is vegan, didn’t expect us to have things she could eat, so she’d eaten before she arrived. She didn’t know I’d intentionally made lots of things she’d enjoy. She managed to eat a bit while she was here, and we sent her home with lots of leftovers. I took her out to the garden and let her pick out fresh tomatoes and herbs. She gratefully and joyfully received anything we offered.

Surprisingly, a person closest to my son didn’t show up. Sleep got the better of her, but were we disappointed? Yes! She is interesting, insightful, intelligent, and she and my son have a special bond. But … a no show. Another person came, but only milled around looking at the feast, but never touching. Another sat in a corner, arms crossed. It was as though they knew they somehow needed to be there for my son, but didn’t want to participate at all, lest they somehow give some sort of tacit “approval” to our family. (Yes, I’m mindreading, and I suck at it. But that’s what it seemed like!) Still another person sat at the table and snacked on a plate of crackers and summer sausage that were set out on the table, but didn’t stand or venture over to even look at the main spread of food.

Seeing The Metaphor: Relating It To God’s Feast For Us

This morning I thought of this situation as a metaphor for life. In many ways, God spreads a bounteous feast before us. He’s trying to give us good, wholesome things that will nourish us and delight our senses and bring us joy.

• Some of us refuse to even attend the feast and miss out completely.
• Some of us are blinded by our own pain and resentment and won’t consider consuming the blessings available to us.
• Some of us look at the feast, but assume it’s not for us or that we’re somehow not welcome to receive it. Or we won’t receive it, just to prove a point, as though partaking means we somehow agree or accept everything.
• Some of us won’t step outside our comfort zone and will only take what’s placed directly in front of us. We don’t take the opportunity to do something as simple as walking over to the feast table a couple steps away to receive even more.
• Some of us are like the little kids grabbing shiny objects we can see at eye level but refusing anything that is new, unseen or different that is offered to us.
• Some of us assume there won’t be anything for us at the feast. We stuff ourselves elsewhere, and too late realize we shouldn’t have filled up on other things before we came.
• Some of us receive a little but won’t take anything for the road, even when it’s offered.
• Some of us gratefully receive everything and delight in what is given to us.
• A few gladly receive everything we have room for and gratefully receive more for later enjoyment.
• Some will even go beyond the feast and receive other blessings God wants to give us that require stepping out into the world and taking a walk with Him.

We Are Each All Of Those People

I think in many ways, I’ve been all these people at different points and areas of my life.

I could relate a little bit to God in this experience. Dave and I loved for people to take and receive and take more home. It made us happy and joyful. Although we were glad for everyone who showed up, we felt bad for those who wouldn’t or couldn’t feel comfortable receiving. We gladly would have loved for them to take more.

Likewise, God must be so delighted when we try new things, receive what He’s offering, find joy in and express gratitude for what He has provided!

Even the person who never ate anything but at least inspected and acknowledged that there was a feast made me happier than the one who sat in a corner, arms folded, or the one who didn’t come at all.

I delighted most in my daughter. She had eaten elsewhere because she thought there was nothing for her. When she learned that there was something for her, she ate as much as she could, and then received lots of leftovers to take home.

Then, even more wonderful, she kept exploring: She went to the garden with me to select fresh vegetables and harvest fresh herbs. She walked even farther away from where I expected her to stay, exploring Dave’s pathway in the woods with me and sitting with me in the silence of the cedar circle. When she came back in, we gave her cedar smudge wood and even more things neither of us had thought about or were expecting to give … but we were happy to do so!

This experience made me wonder: Where am I not receiving? Where am I blind or refusing to receive something God is trying to give me? What am I missing out on by not feasting, or not taking extra time to take a walk with God and receive more He has to offer?