The Meal Train

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Meal TrainOne of the delights of belonging to a church congregation is that when you have a baby, everybody wants to join the celebration. At Linnea and Adam’s church there’s something called The Meal Train, and people who want to bless a newly-expanded family with a dinner simply sign up online, letting everyone know when they’ll be delivering what food. That way a family is covered for a couple of weeks and doesn’t receive duplicates (though surely they wouldn’t mind).

As The Meal Train rolled into action celebrating our baby Isaac, the benefits have been great. Linnea doesn’t have to cook (or me either), and we’re enjoying creative, delicious dinners along with tasty leftovers. In my role as the out-of-town grandma, I‘ve also experienced another benefit: meeting many of Linnea and Adam’s friends, godly young couples with lively families, serving one another and being blessed in the process.

And isn’t that the way it works when we serve others? Originally we might sign up to take a meal to someone, thinking of it as an added chore to our already long to-do list. We spend much of that day shopping, cooking, and baking, wanting our contribution to be special for the other family. We drive it to their home and hope it helps them in some way. We might even shortchange our own family’s dinner to put together a nicer meal for the others.

And then we step in their door.

As God would have it, the delivery of our gift becomes a gift back to us.

???????????????????????????????We have the pleasure of oooing and ahhhing over a new baby, touching the soft skin and hearing about the birth. We set our meal on their counter and quickly forget the work of making it, focusing instead on the family that’s undergoing fresh stress with a new baby who is causing temporary overload. And we listen to their wholehearted gratitude over our food, realizing that our meal-prep was nothing compared to the appreciation with which it was received.

We step out the door and feel pretty good.

Linnea mentioned that one friend bringing a meal to us had just had a baby herself, and another was due in 3 weeks. But that’s the beauty of God’s system. We are blessed to bless others, and Linnea has cooked and will cook for them, too. And now, since she’s been blessed, she’s eager to pass it on. It’s a good system.

Chicken Pot PieTonight we feasted on chicken pot pie, a green salad, toast, and brownies for dessert. A family of 4 delivered it, coming inside for a few minutes to meet Isaac and greet the rest of us. After their young boy had taken a quick peek at Isaac I said, “Do you like babies?”
His answer: “I’m 7 years old, and I’m gonna get a go-cart.” I guess he’s not riding The Meal Train after all.

“Remember that our Lord Jesus said, “More blessings come from giving than from receiving.” (Acts 20:35)

33 thoughts on “The Meal Train”

  1. What a lovely post Margaret. It’s heart-warming to hear of the help they give each other. Hooray!

  2. Nice tribute that says a lot about the upcoming generation of church families. Amidst the dark, God’s light shines through! Isaac is a doll. I love that name. Will pray strength for these young families.

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