Want to get dinner?

My brain has been constantly spinning since Thanksgiving break. It was a mental marathon where papers, tests and good byes happened in a flash. It was during the chaos (which every college student experiences) that I came to the realization of my love for food.

Let me clarify: I enjoy food but I love the people that accompany the food. My college meal plan allows me to eat one meal a day in my school's dining areas. I try to ration the meals and plan ahead for the week, knowing who I'll get to spend the one meal with. I have also gotten quite good at finding the free meals on campus. This way I won't be a poor, starving college student, I'll just be poor :)

I realized that I am closest with the people I eat with. I have friends that we each promise to "get a meal" together but it has yet to happen. A meal shows a connection; a time together outside of the usual place of socialization. I have my closest friends because we sought each other out and ate together.

In Michigan I became closest with my friend, Emily, after we ate lunch together repeatedly. We were able to talk outside of the office about our lives and everything therein. It was in between the chewing and sipping that we became the dearest of friends.

Of course, it is very difficult for me to eat with other people because I just want to talk with them. Meals always take at least an hour. Two years ago, the leaders of the Christian Fellowship group would eat dinner together before every Fellowship meeting. The other leaders soon became close friends: close enough that they would just tell me to stop talking so we could finish our dinner. I would be on my salad and the others would be on their second plate. I looked forward to every meal, though, because I would see them. The food was less than desirable, but the experience was so much better because of the people I shared it with.

This kind of seems like a monologue about my love of eating with friends but I have found it to be true. My family always ate together when we lived in the same house and, among many other things, it really drew us together. I know that we're true friends when we have eaten together more than twice. That shows that the conversation and length of dinner were both pleasant to all involved parties.

Jesus understood the importance of food. I mean, he did perform some hefty miracles surrounding it! He seemed to always be eating or visiting a party, He knew how to draw close bonds (Isn't he like the Maker of close bonds?) I would love to have dinner with Him. That would be the BEST dinner date. Though I doubt I would ever touch my food, having so much to ask.

So, for me Friends=Dinner Together.

Want to grab some food?