Is Your Table Set? What About Your Mind?

Please don’t think I have it all together, because I don’t. But I am the kind of gal who prefers a “set” table to a cleared off one. While I love the light stained pine, trestle table my dad built and gave me when I married, I especially like to see it “decorated” with a pretty cloth or placemats and cloth napkins, a pretty plant or bowl of fruit in the center. Maybe it’s the South in me.

But, while I generally set my table, it doesn’t always stay that way. In fact, at any given moment during the day my set table can be found cluttered, place mats askew, napkins tossed aside, and even dirty with crumbs. Just to prove my point, I’ll get up from the computer right now and take you to see the current condition of my kitchen table. Let’s go…

Ah hah! Daughter nowhere to be found, but the remains of her breakfast left behind.

Should I swipe her change? Crumbs, wallet, trash. So much for a pretty table!

Honestly, that’s what I found…at this given moment. Later, it could be a board game left behind with placemats stacked on the benches, books piled high, groceries yet to be put away, or just everything askew.

I set the table most every morning, but rarely does it stay set. Living happens, others don’t value the “set” table quite like I do, and mayhem takes over.

No big deal. While I prefer a set table, I’m not obsessive about it.

But as I chose my new memory and meditation scripture for today, I thought of the struggle to keep my kitchen table looking pretty and ready for dining.

It’s hard to truly set a table around which life occurs. The word “set” implies a little permanence, some diligence, something akin to concrete. And life, on the other hand, is constantly changing, moving, developing, getting messy and unpredictable.

It’s just as hard to set our minds as it is to set my kitchen table. Oh, we can do the initial setting, alright. I try to have a quiet time each morning when I do just that. I begin the day with a set mind…set on biblical truth, eternal things, heavenly thoughts, spiritual purposes, Jesus.

But as the morning goes on and turns to noon, then afternoon, I find my mind cluttered, scattered, and even distressed. Anxieties litter my mind like crumbs on a well laid table, not only detracting from the beauty, but also making it unhealthy.

Does this happen to you?

As I wrote my new scripture in my meditation and memory album today I thought of some ways to set my mind so it stays focused on the things of God rather than the anxieties of the day, the pursuits of the world or the frivolities of life.

• Start with a clean table mind. Spend time in reflection and repentance before the Lord in the morning, clearing away unconfessed sin, regrets, and anxieties.
• Set the table your mind with truth. Truth makes the best foundation. It’s palatable, beautiful and wise.
• Ask Christ to preside over the table your mind with diligence, bringing to your attention anything that doesn’t belong there. And when He points out something you need to dismiss, do it!
• At the center of your table mind, keep only that which is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise. See Philippians 4:8.
• Persevere. I straighten up my kitchen table no fewer than half a dozen times a day. My mind, set on things above but frequently cluttered with things from below, deserves even more diligence.