EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on Feb. 2, 2024.
By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks
“Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” -- Proverbs 22:6
The other night, I saw an extraordinary thing taking place at a local restaurant during dinner.
My daughter and I had stopped in to grab something quick before she was off to dance practice, and we couldn’t help but notice the family sitting a few tables over.
My presumption was a mom, dad, two young children and their grandmother, who the children actually were calling “Grandma.”
Not that extraordinary to see a three generation meal, I know, but what was extraordinary was the contagiously joyful time they all were having over simple meals of burgers and hot dogs and fries.
So joyful, in fact, that their delightful laughter carried throughout the small restaurant, and could be overheard even over the busy din taking place by the ordering counter. I’m talking so much laughter by all involved that you couldn’t help but take notice!
“Boy, they’re having fun,” my daughter said after she had turned from watching them for a short while.
“They are!” I agreed, as I continued to marvel at the sight.
So what, you might ask. What was “extraordinary” about a family enjoying dinner together?
Well, in all of the time that I watched them, going on more than 30 minutes, never once did one person pull out a phone to check it! … Not once!
Neither Mom, nor Dad, slipped a phone from their pocket to check their emails or fire off a text or scroll social media. Grandma didn’t pull out a phone to snap the obligatory grandchildren photos. And the kids were never pacified with a device on which to play.
Instead, the entire family spent the time enjoying their food, snuggling with “Grandma,” cracking jokes and laughing uproariously, much to the delight of some of us around them. The joy they were experiencing in simply just being together was contagious!
I admit that I was gobsmacked by what seems such a rare sight anymore.
As I panned the room, nearly everyone else, with the exception of the employees, had a phone in hand. The people waiting in line to order, the rest of the diners, and yes, even my daughter and I’s phones were there on full display on our table.
Can I directly attribute the family’s joy to the lack of the phones at the dinner table. … No, I can’t prove the absence of phones was the cause of their radiant joy.
But let’s just say a hunch tells me that their practice of leaving their phones in their pockets is intentional and that they’ve begun to notice the benefits. ... And so have their children.
Yet another reminder that when we invest less time in our technical gadgets, and more in our families, the return is special and holy. … Amen
Devlyn Brooks is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and serves Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.
Comments