A Seat At The Table

A Seat at the Table

Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

As we walked into the room, a sea of beautifully set tables awaited us. With black tablecloths and tulip centerpieces, they were ready for the hundred or so leaders who would be joining us for our leadership luncheon.

I wove across the room, looking for my spot at the head table as the event’s emcee. Looking to put down my event notes and get settled, I glanced over and read the name card next to mine: Reserved for Lizzie Fisk.

Sisterhood Leadership is an offshoot of Bridging the Gap—a women’s ministry organization that blankets the state of Minnesota, focusing on encouraging, empowering, and equipping women in leadership roles. The women involved are a living part of that great cloud of witnesses set forth in Hebrews, women who cheer one another on in the individual faith races God has given us to run.

For months, our leadership team had pondered how to start pulling our daughters into this faith community of women—women we wanted our girls to be among. I had emailed Carol, our leader extraordinaire, saying that I’d like to have Lizzie tag along to volunteer in small ways. I explained that we planned to sit together at a table off to the side, where I could still get to the stage, rather than at the traditional emcee spot at the head table. Carol’s response was immediate: Lizzie would sit next to me, and I would sit at the head table.

My daughter had no idea that her seat next to me that night meant another woman was asked to sit elsewhere, but I immediately grasped the significance of that reserved seat. My daughter was being invited into our community of faithful women, allowed to watch and learn from the coveted front row instead of being placed in the back of the room where her youth and inexperience would normally relegate her. It was a visible, tangible welcoming of my daughter by my community of faith leaders, and it moved me to tears and reminded me to go and do the same for other daughters.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

As you seek to notice and encourage the daughters of your friends, deliberately include them in your community.