So, I was on Pinterest a few weeks ago and I found this neat quote from a book that I will never read.  What?  I’m just being honest.  I won’t read it because I’m a sucker for good fiction.  The non-fiction bores me beyond tears.  I just can’t do it.  I read voraciously–just not the stuff that’s supposed to well, make you grow or learn.  Ha!
I like STORIES!!  And I learn best from them!  Anything else just feels like the author said what he meant to say on the cover in the shape of a title and then spends the next 300 pages finding new ways to say the same thing and keep you reading.  I try.  I just can’t.
My husband and one friend in particular are always telling me about some great book I should read.  Well, they used to.  They’ve long since given up.  Now we have a system I call The Highlight Reel.  They read the boringness and give me the interesting highlights.  I’m so smart, right?   Brilliance.
Anyway…so I saw this book quote and it really got me thinking–way to go, author!  See, now I don’t need to read your book!  Here are the brilliant words…*

Jesus didn’t run projects, establish ministries, or put on events.  He ate meals.

On so many levels, I am in love with this quote.
Reason number one, this has kinda been our family motto for several years without having had a way to sum it all up.  You see, we also quit running projects, being involved in ministries, and hung up our event-planning hats.  Much to the chagrin of those who love those kind of things, we began to look for ways to serve quietly and well, outside of the box.
We even believe that serving begins at home first.  Being a servant to the ones we are called to love is a huge priority to us.  The rest, is well, it’s no one else’s business.
A dear friend of mine who knows us very, very well told me recently that more ministry happens at the Kirksey table than anywhere else.  May be one of the biggest compliments I have ever received.  Because that…that spells success to me.
Reason number two, Jesus ATE with the folks who mattered to Him!  Yet another reason I love Him!!  How many of his miracles mention a meal?  And for this girl who loooovves cooking and eating (hence, the other blog) loves that confirmation from the One Who made me this way!
He took the time to sit across a table from his dear friends many times, and He made dear friends in the people that no one else wanted to sit across the table from.  The ones who didn’t fit into a ministry-type situation or weren’t really wanted at an event.  He had dinner at the house of the folks not welcome at the temple.  He shared a drink of water at a well with a woman no one else knew what to do with.
He didn’t condone their behavior a bit, but He did take the time to let them know they mattered.
This also hit me square in the heart because it made me think of Mary and Martha.  Those are two of His closest friends.  He was tired and came to their house to share a meal in a place where He could put His feet up and take a load off.  Martha ran around making sure everything was perfect.  She had probably planned her menu and shopped for perfect ingredients that she knew he would love, made sure He had all His food groups covered and cleaned the house from top to bottom.  Not that I can relate at all…ahem…
I am that girl.  I find great pleasure in feeding folks I love, and often those I’m not too sure about.  Whoever they are, I want everything to be perfect.  Every time.  And my family understands the best that they can.  But sometimes, they just want me to sit down and relax and be present and enjoy a day instead of using up all of my hours to feed them something they will eat in less than fifteen minutes.  Like Jesus when He told Martha to sit down and be more like her sister, Mary.  Who, apparently was the sitter.  She was the sister who just sat there while Martha was in the middle of the mess of her own doing, and enjoyed His company, simultaneously irritating the bejeebers out of her getting-it-done-sister.
Another dear friend of ours told us once that one of his favorite things about our family is that we spend time facing each other.  After we eat, we usually move to the living room, when guests are here or not, and just talk and laugh and face each other.  I honestly thought that is what everyone did.  Apparently, not.  But I love that compliment, too.
And if Jesus came to my house I would hope I could cook for a week in advance and feed Him massive amounts of the best food He ever had, and then sit at His feet and soak in His presence for hours on end.
So, you see why that quote just hit the spot?  I want to serve, and I want to listen, and I want to face people and hear their hearts and laugh with them and KNOW them better by the end of an evening.  I want them to feel like they matter here.
Isn’t that what ministry is all about?
Oh, and of course I wonder…where and what WOULD Jesus eat?
*That book, it’s called, “A Meal With Jesus” by Tim Chester.  Feel free to read it and give me the highlights.