The Feet Under the Table

There were seven pairs beside my own, and they were all different.

One pair of sweet little feet wears clear Princess shoes.  One small pair dangling from the chair  wears tennis shoes.

Two large pairs meet the Scripture's description of "beautiful" because they are ministers of the gospel of Christ.  One pair travels into the courtroom on heels to plead her case and fight for the rights of her clients.

One pair wears the boots of a Marine and can stealthily capture you without your knowledge, until it happens.  The last pair wears heels or flip-flops and captures you with a camera lens instead.

Different feet, but all a gift.  The most precious gift I was given the night of my birthday was to have these seven people, all of whom I love dearly, rest their feet under my table.  To have my husband, all my children and grandchildren and our dear friend to share the evening with me was something I had desired so much and it gave me incredible joy.

There were gifts on the table --gifts I truly loved -- but the the best gift, the gift I will always cherish, were those feet under the table.  As we bowed our heads for prayer before we ate, I thought of how blessed I was to have these very special, very wonderful people in my life.  Each of them is so incredible in their own right, my heart was overcome with thanksgiving and love.  There was no way I could come close to expressing what I felt that night, not then and not now.

As much as I feel emotion toward that experience, it points my mind toward another supper with another family, yet to come.  There will be a day when the Lord Jesus shares a supper with His family and I know He is desiring that moment as we are.

Before the Lord's Supper He told the disciples,  "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer," (Luke 22:15).  Now He waits, I believe with that same desire, to share the Marriage Supper of the Lamb with His children.  Perhaps He waits to see all His children's feet under the table as I did that night, to have them all home, safe and under His wings.  It reminds me of the last line in the hymn, "Brethren We Have Met to Worship":

Then He'll call us home to Heaven, at His table we'll sit down;

Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." Revelation 19:7-9