I met a dear lady named Ruth. She has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren and was sharing some general observations during a very sweet and special wedding shower.  This one tiny excerpt keeps coming to my mind:

“It just makes me so sad when parents bring up problems from the day at the dinner table. ‘Do you know what Jonny did today?!’  Dinner should be a time of joy and having fun together.  There’s another time to address serious issues.

My husband and I have been with people we know, and they just tear into the children at the table, and I watch their little tummies tighten up, and it is so sad.”

I know her words aren’t inspired, but there IS a time and place for everything, is there not?

Could you make the dinner table a refuge instead of a judgment seat?