Meticulously I prepared the meal and there was a lot of preparing to do: washing and peeling vegetables, flavouring and seasoning the main dish, timing and controlling the cooking.

Then when it was ready to my satisfaction, I arranged the food on the plates, remembering who liked what or who liked a little of this and much of that and who liked much of this and a little of that.

The plates – warmed to keep the food warm – were on the table and the call to “come!” Was given.

And nobody came! The family was too busy talking, remembering, laughing and catching up on news to be disrupted.

“Lunch is ready,” I reminded them again.

No hurry. Food was a secondary distraction. They heard the message, they believed it, but they did not act on it because they had a higher priority already happening. And I agreed that their joy in each other was a priority above food.

They took their own time and came at their own leisurely pace, still focusing on each other and not on the food in front of them.

They were all about having right priorities and their priorities were absolutely right. They cared too much about each other to let a plate of food distract them.

Therefore I have great hope that when the Lord calls to them, they will discern its importance and not deceive themselves about priorities. His message is always top priority and I pray all His children will not merely hear it but will come to the table of the Lord for real food when He calls them.

James sums it up like this: ‘Only be sure you act on the message, and do not merely listen and so deceive yourselves,’’ chapter 1, verse 22.

Are you ready for that lunch?

Elizabeth Price reprice@dragnet.com.au