I’ve kinda been down in the dumps about how the world is going to pot, seeing inflation, and how our costs are spiraling outta control.

I got a call from a close friend of mine and we had a really good visit. My conversation with this friend of mine who lives a very modest lifestyle, went into a different direction after a bit. We started talking about my son Matthew, and he asked how he was doing and I mentioned that Matthew was working on his house and how hard it was to get materials and to get things done.

But anyway, my friend started telling me that recently his kitchen table had seen it’s better days and wasn’t functional any more so he went on the hunt for a new one. He said that he and his wife had looked high and low and could not find a decent table that was in stock or available any- where. Everything had to be “special ordered.”

So, they went to one of the big box stores and purchased a smaller folding table to get by with for a while.

My friend then started telling me that later they had guests over one evening for dinner. One of the guests was joking around about how the table was “small and cheap looking.” My friend was taking it all in stride not thinking much about it but then replied “well how big is your table?” To which the guest started describing the size and how it was made of oak and so on.

My friend was beginning to get irritated about being ribbed about his table so he says to his guest “well it serves a purpose, we eat at it just fine, just as you are eating at it. So he then posed the question “if we take all this food to your house and eat from around your bigger table will it make the food taste any better?”

He was telling me this story lightheartedly and was laughing about it, but I was finding a hidden lesson.

He made a profound statement without realizing it. It’s not about how big your table is but what’s on it. We can only eat so much until we become full, then we are done.

We’ve become so obsessed with the material things like the size of our table, that we ruin the meal and can’t enjoy the good things that are on our table. The important thing is that we have food on the table.

I know a guy that once fed thousands with a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish and I don’t recall any mention of there being a table.

So how big is your table? It’s all about perspective now, ain’t it?!

My name is Don Hartman, I’m a first generation farmer from the desert south- west in New Mexico. I grow chili peppers for processing, fresh market onions, seedless watermelons, small grains, and hay. I’m a God loving family man.