Come as You Are to the Table

Hearts full of life, heavy with grief… these fearful, crippled aching bodies that could be whole if only–

arms were spread wide open and weary eyes looked up! Our dark, cracked table is adorned with silence, and all that lies on top are scattered eggshells that we’re all told should never have to break.

The table lies dark because we’re all hiding, all afraid, all ashamed, or all just aching tired. Scrape away the egg-shells scattered at your place, because if you want to be whole, then you’re going to have to break. Don’t be gentle. Don’t be soft. Abandon what you hide behind and–

come as you are to the table.

Whatever is stored within that heart, bring it boldly here. Cry in the bathroom, let tears fall, hold your aching wounded heart, but do not scorn the way it moves as it hobbles to the edge of 2017. And if you sit with countless tears on numb-cold tile floor…do not lock yourself inside. Open the door. Please open the door, and just come as you are to the table.

For all the life you’ve lost, there is someone here who will be your courage. She will lead you back to Hope! So come to the table, and don’t be ashamed. Come to the table, we’re all gathered here.

And oh my dear November heart, I see you standing there! In overwhelming joy, in laughter you can’t suppress. Don’t stifle this abundance. Don’t even try to keep it in! You’re not callous to enjoy these gifts. You’re not selfish to live here well! Don’t be ashamed of the light-heartedness that’s spilling through your soul. Dance through it, embrace it, and come as you are to the table!

We are all gathered here.

And scraped-away hiding places lead to friendship and friendship in different seasons always leads to something beautiful. Stopping your world to step into hers cannot be done while hiding safe in the dark. You’re going to feel pain; it’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be breathtaking too.

Because don’t you see them over there? They’ve come to the table without hiding! A woman in joy and the other in sorrow with tears and laughter spilling…out and over…all around mingling with each other. They stand ever-firm in their own season and yet they sit here at the table ….laughing, crying, talking! Egg-shells are scattered on the floor. They are crushed beyond repair, done by hands that care about whole hearts not good hiding places.

We can adorn our holiday tables in silence, pushing away honesty, hiding in fear…

or we can run through here and pull out chairs, clear away the places we love to hide, and sit down boldly, hearts in fully. Here’s your chance. The light wants in and when it falls, you’ll be amazed that you could find a table so beautifully adorned as this.

Hobbling hearts and dancing ones. I can’t believe the view. All it took was honesty and unlocked bathroom doors. Tile floors remain numb-cold, but crowded tables are warm with welcomed love.

We are all gathered here and we are learning what it means to sit close, sing new songs, and join our chaotic, mosaic lives. We are unafraid to cry and laugh and to do it altogether. Fearless women share grace stories, and fearless women offer the love they’re growing into.

And God is healing us at the edge of 2017, with hearts that hobble, hearts that dance, hearts that beat unhidden. The shadow of His wings is for the joyful, for the sorrowing, for the grieving, for the dancing. We lay out our table beneath it, and we choose to be unafraid. And already here is gentle light falling from His shadows.