Table talk over dinner is an important place to process the small and large, local and global issues of our day. If you have very young children, table talk may be a challenge, but you are laying the foundations for conversations for years to come, as they grow up around your table.

Last night at dinner, as we said grace, we prayed for those families touched by recent tragedy.

There are sad stories on the news every day, but some just hit a certain way, in a vulnerable place. And our voices catch as we discuss the news of the day around the dinner table. The conversation becomes more intense and emotional and less theoretical on these days.

And when news of a tragedy, either near to us, or distant, tugs at our heart and makes us process the deep questions of life, we are getting a glimpse, just a small glimpse, into the heart of God.

Because we can’t see or understand the whole heart of God for the world. It would overwhelm and crush us.

Last night, sitting around our dinner table, we had a tiny glimpse into the cost for Jesus. He died on the cross for every single person, individually. His heart literally broke for each of the millions and billions of human beings, each created in his image. Each with the capacity for good and evil, each with free will. Each needing redemption.

When we feel pain from the events in our near world, or the distant world, we are reminded of how much God loves the world, and how much pain free will has cost, and how much it cost Jesus to redeem us.

Even though it might sound trite, and simplistic, and super-spiritual, we have no choice but to wait with anticipation for the certainty of a day with no tears and no sadness. A day we cannot see yet, but hold as promise. When no family member will wait for the phone call from a relative which will never come. When the dinner table conversations will have a different tone and subject.

Because without the hope and promise, we truly have nothing.

Discuss with your MOPS group:
How you can help and respond to those in tragedy near or far away from you.