Where Real Change Begins

"All great change in America begins at the dinner table."
Ronald Reagan

We've heard a great deal over the last two years about change. Everyone's promising it. But as I was thinking the other day, I realized that no matter what I think about a political candidate, that's not where real change begins.

I grew up with a mother who had dinner on the table every evening at five o'clock whether we were hungry or not. To this day those are some of the best memories in my life. It was the place where my parents challenged us on our attitudes, shared with us their dreams for our family and taught us about the things worth having and holding onto in this life.

In fact, in just a couple weeks many of us will gather around our tables for Thanksgiving dinner and my family will scoot back from the table, unbuckle our belts, or untie our drawstrings and talk. We'll talk about our year. We'll talk about our fears. We'll talk about our new visions. We'll talk about the craziest things that have happened to us. And around that table we'll dream, laugh, maybe even cry. But it will be those moments that really change us.

I know life is crazy. I know we spend more time eating in our cars than sitting at our dinner tables. But where are we receiving the core values of our heart, the real treasures of this life? From the television? Even from books? I can't believe I'm about to say this, since people reading my books is how I make my living, but what if we took a couple nights a week, gathered our family around the dinner table and talked about the things that create true change, character, perserverence, faith, love, and the ability to still hope.

The government will never truly be able to provide such things. They can paint grand pictures, ease the pressure of our mortgages, but they can never offer that which can change the very core of who we are. No, real change is found when we're willing to go to the intimate places with one another, listen more than we talk, and love even those who at times are unlovely.

May God bless us today...as both Americans and Families.

Denise lives in Franklin, Tennessee with her two shih-tzu's Maggie and Sophie. She enjoys long walks, good books, Coca-Cola and evening dinner's with her families. And every now and then she writes a few books. Her latest is The Will of Wisteria.