Crowded table

I was on my bike watching “I love Lucy” because I just love the “situations” that she always finds herself in, and this episode was so funny about her hoping to be approved of by her Cuban, non English speaking mother-in-law. I was also riding a stationary bike my son gave me, because I am working through a shoulder injury and running and swinging my arm, seems to make it hurt more.

As I was watching, this commercial for HEB came on about Thanksgiving. All the people in the commercial are getting ready for the meal with turkey, pies and whipped cream, and the song in the background really touched my heart as it says “I want a house with a crowded table, and a place, by the fire, for everyone”.

I had not seen this commercial before and I just loved it, so later in the day when I was doing my walk, I tried to find that HEB commercial on my phone. I learned that the song in the background is by “the highwoman”, and even though I could never find the HEB commercial, I loved the song and all the lyrics.

As a mom myself, with five children, I also want a house with a crowded table, and like the song says, I have each one’s picture on my wall. Funny thing is, when I first heard the commercial on HEB, I thought it was saying “I want to help fill a crowded table”.

And the idea of business such as HEB being creative, productive, hardworking and fair and still finding ways to help fill the table for families everywhere, was heartwarming to me.

In a struggling economy, and in tough times, it is uplifting to know that all of us, big or small, are interested in coming together at the table and in helping to “fill” that table. And what is needed might not just be food, it might be oil and gas, or funding, or even a change in health for the better. Humanly sometimes it might feel like we are fighting a losing battle.

But I heard a story about a person who performed a miracle in that regard, and as the story goes, a lady was told by a farmer that he could not give milk to his family because the cows could not produce because the well was dry and he had no more water. Then the lady said that “don’t you know that love fills the well”.
The next day the well was brimming full of water.

What a great concept to understand, that Love does indeed “FILL the well” and provide supply when needed. It might “seem” impossible, and yet it did indeed happen and Love was the alterative.

I wonder how many of us are able to “fill the table” or “fill the well” or “fill the bank account” simply with just our understanding of what Love can accomplish.
As Christmas approaches, I remember the story of George, and how he was bitter about his life in a dilapidated house, with all his children and all his bills. He is thinking about ending it all because his uncle lost the money that was needed to pay the debt, and George thought that “the well was dry”. But we know in the story, exactly what “love” accomplished.

But all his life, George had been doing things for other people with his love and attitude of service towards others who needed help. George, like the song crowded table, did indeed have a house, with a crowded table, and a place, by the fire, for everyone.
Because of the love he had for his family, his neighbors, and his town, George should not have worried about where he would get the money and should have trusted in what “love” is capable of. The entire town stepped up to “fill his table” and give back to him, the money that was lost and even more than he needed.
George was overjoyed, and never needed to worry about not having the funds he needed. Where there is love, there is supply.

Lucy, in her show, worrying about if her mother in law would love her, and George worrying about money, and the farmer worrying about the well are all problems that Love can solve, and the song about having a crowded house, sings a solution to supply a wealth of love to those stories about need. Love, fills in what is needed.

I know of businesses that are struggling, people who are struggling, and families who are struggling, and it is my prayer that “I want to help, fill a crowded table”, because that is what Love can do.