Lucy’s play date, dinner

Sandra De La Garza called Mama while she was at a bank near the house and asked if Mama would like to see Lucy. Of course, Mama loved that idea. I was late getting home yesterday from a meeting two hours away and, as it happened, I pulled up to the house at the same time Sandra was getting Lucy out of the car. I don’t know if the pup remembered me or if she is just that excited to see anyone but she was pretty excited to see me. She was overwhelmed to see Mama.


She ran all over the house in the next half hour finding her toys and attacking each one with mock furor. She still has not learned to stop in the absence of carpet and slammed into walls in every room of the house – especially the kitchen. It is the longest open space and she is able to get up quite a head of steam before trying to make an abrupt stop. It just seemed to her that the wall came up too fast. She was not deterred at all. She hopped from one toy to another, one room to another, one person to another until Sandra took her back to the car. Sort of like the grandkids visiting.

Mama and I are having people over tonight. Mrs. Patrick, her daughter Charlotte and Charlotte’s husband, Terry. Mrs. Patrick and Charlotte are fun to be around; Terry, not so much. Charlotte has confided in Mama the problems that she and Terry are having and it seems especially sad since they are both in their sixties, both on their second marriage and neither willing to seek the help necessary to mend the relationship.

We will do all we can to make the evening enjoyable. I will be cooking on the grill and Mama will be fixing all the fresh produce from our garden. I was able to get two boxes of rib eye steaks left over from the lunch yesterday. None of the steaks was cooked well, most were rare and some were really rare, so they will be perfect to finish out properly. We have chicken and fish to fix also, so at least we will eat well.

I realize that entertaining people at our home is a powerful way to build relationships, encourage fellow believers and to witness to lost friends but it is a lost part of our cultural heritage – especially among Anglo Americans. We have grown accustomed to our privacy and our “down time”. We are afraid to offend, intrude or wear out our welcome. I have a feeling we had better get over it, especially in this faltering, floundering, friendless culture we have developed.

I am firmly convinced that the days are coming when the only solid foundation we will have for life is our friendships, the community we have taken time to foster and build, and the fellowship of a good local church. Many things around us are beginning to shake, to become unsteady, especially our fragile economy. The relationships we take time to build now will help soften the blow when times get debilitatingly difficult.

I am not a dooms day crier. But I do worry that too many of us have allowed TV, cell phones and social networking to save us from developing the skills required for face-to-face interaction. We need to get past taking the easy way. We need to learn to use the extra words required for personal, interactive conversations and expand our circle of friends – without trying to sell them anything.

Tonight’s dinner reminded me how long is has been since we had people over – even people from the church. Mama and I used to be much better about it, but I think the appearance of the house we are renting, the time we spend away from Amarillo and the busy-ness of my job have provided an excuse for us to neglect those relationships that we really do want to care for. So we are going to start scheduling these soirées and reacquaint ourselves with the ministry of hospitality.

If times get really tough, it might be only beans and cornbread on the table but it not what is on the table that builds friendships, it is what happens around the table that accomplishes that.