At many tables this holiday season there may be an empty chair. This symbolic empty chair may represent a relationship that is now broken, a family member that you haven't spoken to in years or possibly a prodigal child who hasn't yet come home. High emotions are felt when you realize that this person will not be there and you may experience sadness, regret and maybe even the feeling of incompleteness. If you find yourself in this predicament you need to ask yourself if that chair needs to really be empty? Maybe there is something you can do. You can be the key to making a difference in someone's life by doing one small thing....reserving some space at your table.
You see I had a person live with me and my family for a few years and he was like a son to Don and I and suddenly he was gone without explanation and without any communication from him. I let time go by and I did not pursue the reasoning. I was just hoping that "He would come back and we would work it all out" but of course that never happened. This situation has tore at my heart for over 6 months and I decided finally that I was going to do something about it. This Christmas my goal is to have him at my table. I haven't done a thing to reach out to him YET but I have the plans to make it happen. I feel that we let people and situations go WAY too easily and as time goes by it gets easier to push back the emotions and the hurt and you find yourself wanting to forget. It just seems easier that way. God places people in our lives so that we can learn and grow from our experiences. We cannot grow and learn if we are not willing to follow through with the hard things. There is something I can do about this situation and I will not let another month go by without making it right. I don't care if he isn't living right and I am prepared if he reacts in anger and tells me all the things that I did wrong. I will listen and be ready to act in love. Justin will come home and our relationship will be reconciled and God can do the rest. He will be my filled chair this holiday season.
Jesus was critized heavily because he did not hesistate to break bread and share his table with broken people. He did not just include perfect people and he didn't wait until people "got it all together" to invite them....He ASKED people to come to Him just as they were. Jesus used communion as the first step towards reconciliation. He sat and shared a meal with people that He knew were going to turn on him! You see there is nothing more personal that we can do than to invite someone to your table. When you ask someone to come into your home and you share your blessings and you wait on them and serve...it is doing just what Jesus did. Sharing from your cup and your plate is one of the most intimate things anyone can do. Especially in this day and age when it is so much easier to ask others to go out and eat...it is being hospitable without any of the work! Maybe you need to ask someone that has no family and is alone for the holidays, or you need to invite that family member you have been at odds with, or open your home to the homeless who is cold and has no other place to go. Matthew 25:40 says, "For when you do unto the least of these...you do it unto me".
Everyone of us has a empty chair. We have room for one more. Just like the time of Jesus birth when there was no room in the inn...they looked beyond the ordinary and actually found some extraordinary space. We need to open up our hearts and the doors of our homes and ask others to come in. One meal may not fix the overall problems in this hurting world or the dysfunction in your family;
but one more filled chair can be an answer to someone's prayer. Hope in this world is found when we give forgiveness, kindness, compassion and most of all give to others what God so richly has blessed us with.
Fill a chair this holiday season and God will fill your life with blessings that you never even thought of asking for.
Merry Christmas!
Jonna Gibson
You see I had a person live with me and my family for a few years and he was like a son to Don and I and suddenly he was gone without explanation and without any communication from him. I let time go by and I did not pursue the reasoning. I was just hoping that "He would come back and we would work it all out" but of course that never happened. This situation has tore at my heart for over 6 months and I decided finally that I was going to do something about it. This Christmas my goal is to have him at my table. I haven't done a thing to reach out to him YET but I have the plans to make it happen. I feel that we let people and situations go WAY too easily and as time goes by it gets easier to push back the emotions and the hurt and you find yourself wanting to forget. It just seems easier that way. God places people in our lives so that we can learn and grow from our experiences. We cannot grow and learn if we are not willing to follow through with the hard things. There is something I can do about this situation and I will not let another month go by without making it right. I don't care if he isn't living right and I am prepared if he reacts in anger and tells me all the things that I did wrong. I will listen and be ready to act in love. Justin will come home and our relationship will be reconciled and God can do the rest. He will be my filled chair this holiday season.Jesus was critized heavily because he did not hesistate to break bread and share his table with broken people. He did not just include perfect people and he didn't wait until people "got it all together" to invite them....He ASKED people to come to Him just as they were. Jesus used communion as the first step towards reconciliation. He sat and shared a meal with people that He knew were going to turn on him! You see there is nothing more personal that we can do than to invite someone to your table. When you ask someone to come into your home and you share your blessings and you wait on them and serve...it is doing just what Jesus did. Sharing from your cup and your plate is one of the most intimate things anyone can do. Especially in this day and age when it is so much easier to ask others to go out and eat...it is being hospitable without any of the work! Maybe you need to ask someone that has no family and is alone for the holidays, or you need to invite that family member you have been at odds with, or open your home to the homeless who is cold and has no other place to go. Matthew 25:40 says, "For when you do unto the least of these...you do it unto me".
Everyone of us has a empty chair. We have room for one more. Just like the time of Jesus birth when there was no room in the inn...they looked beyond the ordinary and actually found some extraordinary space. We need to open up our hearts and the doors of our homes and ask others to come in. One meal may not fix the overall problems in this hurting world or the dysfunction in your family;
but one more filled chair can be an answer to someone's prayer. Hope in this world is found when we give forgiveness, kindness, compassion and most of all give to others what God so richly has blessed us with.
Fill a chair this holiday season and God will fill your life with blessings that you never even thought of asking for.
Merry Christmas!
Jonna Gibson
