Dinner's Ready!

I realize that Father's Day has come and gone.  We move on, but this morning I was thinking about something that my father did while we were growing up that made a difference in my life.  I didn't realize the impact it had on my life and family as it was happenning.  I didn't realize how it would shape my own family while our kids were growing up.

The thing my father did was insist that we all sit down for dinner every evening or at least as often as possible.  Excluding myself was not an option except for times when I was being disciplined. Dad would come home for dinner and then go back to work on the evenings that the car dealership was open. Everyday we were forced to have family time; sometimes as often as three times a day!

It seems that the trend these days is more casual and our schedules haves us more splintered.  We often eat and run, get dinner on the way, or eat in front of our computers or televisions.  Remember when houses had dining rooms?

I am thankful that my parents did this.  When I started my own family, we had meals together as much as we could.  We would eat and make breakfast together.  We had dinner together; sometimes early before I went to do youth ministry meetings 4 nights per week.

I am covinced that this helped make our family strong.  Maybe it would work in other families to bring them closer together.  It did in our home.

Thanks, Dad.