Life Matters - May 6, 2026
‘’All great change in America begins at the dinner table” – President Ronald Reagan, giving his farewell speech to Americans at the close of his second term in January of 1989. ‘The dinner table’, being a metaphor for practical everyday living carries with it the conviction that all of life has meaning and that meaning is instilled in our posterity by our own practical everyday living and conversation. While we may not all agree on what, if any, change is needed, the essence of that quote about the dinner table is upheld by the Word of God in His instruction to parents, as in; Deuteronomy 6:6-7 & 11:19. Chapter 6, verses 6-7 instruct us this way; ‘And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risestup.’
The greatness of a nation is dependent on its homes. As the family, so the church. As the church, so the community. As the community, so the nation. ‘Alexis de Tocqueville’, said President Reagan, ‘put it eloquently after he’d gone on a search for the secret of America’s greatness and genius.’ Reagan goes on to quote, ‘Not until I went into the churches of America, aflame with righteousness from her pulpits, did I understand the greatness and the genius of America.’
I don’t know if Mr. Tocqueville connected the dots on either side of that church observation but he did connect with the central refrain threading through the success and succession of true greatness. That central refrain is that God is King over all kings. He sets kingdoms up and He takes them down, as testified to us many times over in the Old Testament and continues in the New Testament via Romans chapter 13.
The refrain continues with a King giving his life to save his people from their sins. He is King over all kings and as such requires ultimate allegiance to Him with His ultimate Kingdom and His ultimate ideals and values. He is the Almighty who sent His Word in the form of His Son to earth, born a baby, to live among us, to teach us the true meaning of holiness, he was rejected, despised, abused, crucified. But…He rose again! The grave could not hold Life Himself! He reveals His saving power to those who can’t find in themselves the power to live an inner and outer life pure and righteous enough to bear up under the scrutiny of a holy God. He reveals His salvation through His Word and the comfort of His Holy Spirit, to all those who surrender all to Him, He exalts those who humble themselves. (Matthew 23:12)
Ultimate allegiance to our ultimate King has proven to be the ultimate sore spot for all tyrants, despots, who want absolute control over all constituents in the territory over which they reign, enslaving their constituents into being subjects. In refusing to give ultimate subjection and allegiance to mortal men and declaring ultimate subjection and allegiance to our King Jesus has cost many men and women the ultimate sacrifice – the ultimate temporal cost – their physical life here on the earth being violently ended.
Being well versed in the songs written by – and the stories of – 16th and 17th century Christian martyrs was important to our mother on the farm of my fortunate upbringing. There was a special softness about her when she brought us the Ausbund (an extensive collection of German songs written by Anabaptists, many of them while imprisoned) and instructed us on which verses we should learn and recite before we could go out to play on a Sunday afternoon.
Next to spiritual instruction and prayers for her gentle daughters and sometimes unruly sons it seems my mother’s greatest joyful travail was making sure the house and grounds were kept in good condition, in cooking, baking, and canning the fruits of her labor-intensive (helped by her brood) gardens, orchard, bushes and grapevines. With plenty of milk from the dairy herd, some chicken, beef, pork, eggs, and a few things bought from town, we were well fed with high nutrition and low calories before we ever heard of such a thing as calories, diets, and other such outlandish things.
Being of strict German stock, my family as I grew up, was not given to such things as we now refer to as ‘words of affirmation’. I probably have more ‘words of affirmation’ accumulated in the past decade than my parents were given in their entire lives, combined, and I don’t even get as many as my wife. Not even close!
There are times when I dream of what I would say to my Mother on Mother’s Day. Not that I’ve never given her any words of affirmation…I had that blessed opportunity before she passed on to be with the Lord. But I skipped many a Mother’s Day of blessings I wish I had blessed her with. As I reflect on what I wish to say my eyes get… somehow itchy (does that even make sense?) and my eyeballs swim a little.
I have found that God understands. So I ask Him to give my Mom a special blessing from her grateful son. I seem to sense that God hears and knows what to give. I like to dream of her radiant face lighting up with an extra ray of joy.
Life Matters!