Around the Family Table: Highs & Lows

If you come for dinner at Ferrell Farms, you will drive up a gravel road, over a bridge, up a gravel hill and park in front of a large farmhouse porch. You will arrive at a red door, where we will just yell, “Come on in!” from the kitchen, where food will inevitably still be cooking. It’s likely we will hand you a job as the kids are running around setting the table.We will sit family style, with the meal in dishes in the middle of the table. Farmer Adam will pray, then we will pass the food around to fill our plates. Can you smell the mashed potatoes yet? You see, we are a meat and potatoes family. After everyone is settled into their meal, the game will start.Game?! You thought games aren't allowed at the dinner table, right? Well, here at Ferrell Farms we make meal time enjoyable. We do our best to engage our kids, and because eating together is so important, we play a game every night. It’s called "High-Low." If you’ve eaten around my farm house table, you're already smiling because you know what this means.Each person goes around and says what the high of their day was, and what the low of their day was. This sparks all kinds of stories and usually holds the boys’ attention most of the meal (it helps that we are fast eaters around here). The rules of High-Low are: your low can’t be a tattle tale on a family member, and you have to listen (no interrupting!).You know who our greatest example of the value of breaking bread in community together is? Jesus. He sat with his tribe and ate. They ate slowly. They had sweet conversation. You know what special thing they did before special meals? They washed each other's feet. Isn’t that so precious? We see this played out in the gospels in the telling of the Lord's supper.He reclined at the table with his tribe. They ate, they shared. Then…He broke bread--He said this is my body.He poured wine--He said this is my blood.Do this in remembrance of me.~ Matthew 26:17-29Eating together, talking, sharing and listening to each other is precious, important time. It’s a connection of love that a family can share each day. Make it a priority, make it a game, make it fun. You can do it; I know you can! I promise it will come back to you in blessing ten-fold.Until then, we will be here--living out our faith with abundant grace and our little tribe on Ferrell Farms.