I have three sons. Getting them to sit down for devotional time can be a challenge. Okay, challenge is mild. It can be impossible with their little bodies constantly moving, usually all three in different directions at once!

However, I long to encourage them toward godly thinking. I desire to pour Christ’s life into them, even from a young age.

Reading Sally Clarkson’s book, The Life-Giving Table, was the inspiration I needed to begin to make our table a place to pour Christ’s life into my sons. Through her many ideas about daily life-giving at the table as well as special occasions, she inspired me to begin seeing my table not as just a place to refuel the body, but also to refuel the spirit.

Through Christ’s example of using the table as a place to meet physical and spiritual needs, Sally teaches us how to do the same with our table. Like all her books, she doesn’t give a paint-by-numbers formula to follow, but ideas and inspiration to help us use our own God-given gifts and personalities to make our tables life-giving.

For me this means putting breakfast on the table before I try to read the boys a Bible story or have them say their memory verses. It means pausing for a Sunday afternoon tea time (Yes! Even with boys), to read a chapter from a favorite book together.

It also means inviting friends in and intentionally making our home a place that gives life to those who enter through simple decor, good food, and good conversation.

It doesn’t mean stressing out because my home doesn’t look like the ones in HGTV magazine. I do have boys after all, and any decor that comes in must either be inexpensive or boy proof. Remember, our homes need not be comfortable and beautiful only for company but also inviting for our families.

If you would like to learn what it means to develop your own life-giving table where the life of Christ is shared, check out Sally’s book The Life-Giving Table. You can find it here on Amazon or wherever Christian books are sold.