Life is an interesting thing. You never know what you’ll be learning next! God has His way of revealing more as He pleases, which sometimes can be quite surprising.

Tonight my wife, sister, and I had our pastor, his wife, and this three daughters over for dinner. Having individuals, small groups, large groups, and families over for dinner is something that gives my wife and I great pleasure.

Tonight, in fact, was our first time having a family of five around our table for a meal. I’m thankful, not only for the fruitful discussion, but for the things my wife and I learned about each other.

We were able to have a conversation after our guests returned home about the evening which God opened my eyes to see some of my own character faults. I was able to write down a few things from our discussion that should quite significantly change my character if I can put them into practice:

  • When having families over allow them to gather their children together in order for them to get ready depart. This can and probably should happen independently of conversation that I would like to be having with whomever.
  • Do not over-qualify in conversations. For the past several years this has tended to be an issue for me. I explain things over and over like my listener has to know every detail behind why I’m saying what I’m saying. I believe this was an over-compensation from issues I had in the past, but that’s another story for another time.
  • Remember to be careful to be sensitive to your wife and her desires in the conversation.
  • Plan strategic seat arrangements (where to sit) after your guests choose their seats. Instead of having conversation across one another (imagine the men sitting directly across from each other and the women sitting across from each other at a square table with four sides), have the men sit near each other and the women sit near each other so they can turn to each other and talk. Doing things this way aids conversation in a positive direction by providing more options.

That’s all for tonight.

Maffblaster