Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Shifting the Focus: Fostering Community

A few months ago I decided to make a change in my living space. My dining room table was becoming a catch-all for mail, work, volunteer stuff, coats, clothes, pretty much anything but what it was meant for. So I decided to try life without a dining room table. I moved it to the guest room for temporary keeping, and placed a couple great reading chairs in its place. (Forgive the odd positioning of the chairs, Gracie had rearranged them while I was at work).

I used these chairs for their intended purpose a time or two, 

but mostly Gracie used them as a comfortable Neighborhood-Watch post.

I've also begun realizing that since moving to Kansas City a couple years ago, I can probably count on my hands the number of times I've cooked for my friends. Do you know what this means? They like me for me, and not just because I can cook. I have an identity outside of my kitchen. This is phenomenal, peeps: game-changing. Do I still love to cook? Yes. Will I still share my recipes with you? Yes. But I'm changing my focus from how great of an amateur-chef I [think I] am to spending time with my friends, fostering community, living life together. 

So, as I was home sick for three days recently, I decided to rearrange again. The dining room table came back out of the guest bedroom, and the reading chairs made their way into the living room area.

For those who have been to my home, you know I have a small house, which contains small rooms. I was nervous about moving two additional chairs into my living room area, thinking it might get cramped. As it turns out, now I have two more places in my living room for friends to sit while we play games, watch movies, talk about Jesus, live in community.

For those who have been waiting patiently for my next blog entry (supposedly containing a grand new recipe from yours truly), don't fret. When I invite friends over to share a meal, I still plan to share the recipes here. But my focus has become spending the time with my friends, and so you'll probably see more pictures of sharing the meal than you will of the meal preparation, because its not about how much my friends love my food, its about how much I love my friends. And the name of my blog is still fully legit. In fact, it kind of makes more sense now, since its about sitting down to share a meal: Now I Sit Me Down To Eat.

So be on the lookout for a dinner invitation, friends.

And don't worry, Gracie still has a comfortable Neighborhood-Watch post from which to stalk the neighbors.

#BecauseCommunity