Prime Times: Dinner Time

by Whitney Jones

Another “prime time” you can incorporate into your weekly routine is Dinner Time.

One of the things I remember vividly about growing up was eating dinner together every single night. We all had busy schedules but the one thing my mom made sure of was that we all ate together. 

We had the smallest kitchen and kitchen table but she always made the effort to squish us altogether under one table and eat together. Some nights she would make a full course meal other nights she would make breakfast for dinner and then there were some nights we all ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Dinner time wasn’t fancy and elaborate but it was always there and always with each other.

Now that I have a family of my own, I make a point to make dinner every single night so we all can sit around the table together at the same time. During this time, we pray with each other, eat good food together and share about our day. It is one of my favorite times of the day because we all are present and we all are unplugged from technology, school, or work and we all get to just be together. The conversations aren’t always flowing but we know it’s a safe place to be and share. My oldest opens up the most when we are eating dinner together (and it’s not always easy to get a 13 year old to talk!).

Some evenings are harder than others for us all to be present whether the kids have sports activities or work or life getting in the way but for the most part our family tries to leverage the time we spend around the table by intentionally being with each other. In Hebrews 10:25 it says, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” As a family you should always be gathering together to share your faith and love for each other to strengthen one another.

Most families in this day and age don’t farm together, play musical instruments or stitch quilts on the porch. So dinner is the most reliable way for families to connect and find out what’s going on with each other. 

In a survey, American teens were asked when they were most likely to talk with their parents: dinner was their top answer. Kids who eat dinner with their parents experience less stress and have a better relationship with them. This daily mealtime connection is crucial during these teen years.

There is nothing better for a person than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 NLT)

Solomon is encouraging us to take pleasure in what we’re doing now and enjoy life because it comes from God’s hand. True enjoyment in life comes only as we follow God’s guidelines for living. Without him, satisfaction is a lost search. Those who really know how to enjoy life are the ones who take life each day as a gift from God, thanking him for it and serving him in it.

So as you eat dinner each day with your family, take the time to live in that small moment. Whether you are sitting at the kitchen table or outside on a picnic blanket, enjoy those moments with your family. You only get these moments once and time is a limited resource and you don’t want to miss it.