Proverbs 17:1 MSG
Hello Friend,
When I read these lines from Proverbs, I immediately thought back to our thanksgiving dinners of long ago. All my family would gather around two long banquet tables covered with a sumptuous feast. What a splendid occasion—except for one thing. If you were smart, you kept a low profile and hoped no one would notice you and bring up your most flagrant character flaw. Or how they hated the new church you were attending. Or how you really should get a new hairdo. One aunt actually told me over turkey and stuffing, “You know, you would be quite pretty if it weren’t for that large nose.” Really!!!
How about the conversation around your dinner table? Do you dine in contented peace? I surely hope so. Last week a friend asked me if she should confront her husband at dinner over a grievance that had been festering in her heart. I wanted to scream, NO! Anger is bad for digestion. When a person is angry or fearful the body tenses; heart pounds; hormones heighten; adrenal gland and heart over works itself and the chemicals in the
brain change and all these put together cause stomach acids to increase which can lead to food sitting in their stomach like a rock and not digesting properly. Whew! Please, let’s keep the peace at dinner. Enjoy the people sitting around your table. I would rather have bread and water in peace than a sumptuous feast with quarreling any day.
Enjoying fine dining,
Linda