"12 SUNDAY DINNERS"

I turned 49 last month and looked ,as I do every year, back over the hills and valleys of my lifetime. There are many things I have learned, people I have loved and lost, dreams dashed, ressurected and new Hopes unfolded before my eyes. But when I broke it all down to the simplest formula there were 3 things I have grown to know for sure.

1) I don't BELIEVE in God. I KNOW Him. (its a relationship)
2) La Vita e Dolce e Salata (Life is Sweet and Salty)
3) Relax into The Mystery ( I dont always get to understand God or this life, therefore a moment becomes ever precious)

I suppose most people think of January 1st , the New Year,as a new beginning. Not me.

I love Christmas, the holidays, but by the time New Years comes around I am so tired of lists that the only "resolution" I want is to curl up with my favorite book and a glass of wine...not create another "to do"  list!

 For me, new beginnings are sensed in the Fall. This year it is no different. Come the end of August, there was already a quiet mystery to my backyard. Unknown, as the shadows fell, a bit eerily accross the grass. The sun dropping from a high sleep, and yet still fooling you with its afternoon warmth, until that sudden morning you awaken to leaves scattered . Crispness. Seasons of life. We only get clues along the way, but it feels beautiful. It feels like HOPE.

In the middle of my pondering I worked my garden. Pulling weeds, eating a strawberry, counting the green fleshy pumpkins (there are 5!) and feeling overwhelmed by thankfullness at the bounty of people who have been placed in my life.

And then. as only God can do, these words came sauntering through my wandering mind :

                                          "12 Sunday Dinners"

"Hmmm..."said my mind. "12 Sunday Dinners. 12 months in a year. A year of  Sunday Dinners.

      Wine, candles, delicious food, conversation, laughter, friends, strangers and God on a Sunday.
                                                 Sounds like church to me.

 I began to picture my 8 kitchen chairs. They are filled with friends. Old and New. Strangers. Connection. My husband Jaime and I standing together through a year of grocery shopping, planning, cooking, uncorking wines. No potluck here. It is our gift to them. To serve, to gather, to open our home.

 I see too, that when they walk through our door, it is a gift returned. I smile.


When I share my vision with Jaime, he smiles too. And that very weekend we purchase 2 beautiful italian tablecloths at an art festival. We both saw the memories, the stories to be shared around these cloths.

It's not that gathering to cook and fellowship has not been part of our lives through the years. It has been the biggest part. It's just that somehow my "connector" cannot place "how" ...but this vision feels different. Mysterious. Lovely. Inspired. I will go with that, stand back and watch what God can do :)

The first of 12 Sunday Dinners begins this weekend. I will be blogging about the monthly dinners and life in between on a weekly basis. Please join Jaime and I on this journey where art meets realtionships and relationships bring about stories...where " Life is Sweet and Salty" and God is always ready to hang out!



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