Invest in the small. Experience the great.

Ronald Reagan once said that "all great change in America begins around the dinner table." Dinner tables, like families, come in various shapes and sizes. Whether the table be oblong or square, circular or rectangular, they all serve a similar function: to bring people together. Around the dinner table, families reminisce. Parents teach, and kids learn. Friends encourage, and cultures collide. It is in that action of many collecting in one location, of numerous people coming together for food and fellowship, that Reagan understood to be a catalyst of transformation for a group, for a society, and eventually for a nation. So often, we look for ways to impact the world, to revolutionize our country, to change lives. Perhaps the most effective way to foster such change does not lie in the complicated campaigns or the overwhelming legislation but rather in our daily interaction with those around us.

Great change can only occur when we invest in something, or in this case someone. An investment of time in another person or group of people will yield results, results in which relationships are forged. While eating together does not guarantee solid relationships, it does provide opportunities for growth and depth. Around the dinner table, parents and children can become family. With the absence of distractions such as video games, iPhones, iPods, television, and yes, even books, parents and children must face each other, communicate, and learn to enjoy themselves on a regular basis. That habit and nearly lost art will carry over into other settings at other times. Some of the most valued relationships are oftentimes begun over regular meals together with simple acquaintances to find that at some point the surface relationship morphed into a deep friendship. Whether it is parents with their children or friends with friends, eating together and sharing personal experiences, sans the gossip, opens the door for solid relationships.

With genuine relationships established, those involved most often feel more free to contribute their ideas and to participate in meaningful discussions. When relationships deepen, security will abound. That security breeds confidence which will then allow for ideas to flourish. The dinner table provides the ideal setting for children to share stories, for parents to teach foundational beliefs, for friends to use friends as sounding boards, for people to freely discuss the two very topics considered quite taboo in society yet the two topics that form the very grains of any society--religion and politics.

Only whenever people have created stable relationships that encourage expression and meaningful discussion, only then can those same groups of people challenge the status quo. With relationships in tact and ideas flowing, small groups can throw around ways to act without fear of offending someone. With deepened relationships, all involved can freely express their opinions and can humbly accept the criticism of others. Conversing, communicating, listening, enjoying each other’s company, not being easily offended, speaking the truth in love, acting on decisions--these together supply the definition of community. For, when people have open discussion, they realize their differences, but they also find their common ground. Such a discovery can lead to actions of greatness. Such an investment can yield unexpected dividends.

By capitalizing on a time-honored tradition of eating together and having meaningful discussions, communities can implement change. When communities work for change, counties and states adapt. So often, Americans cry out for change. Christians long for better days. Such a transformation does not originate in the White House or in the state legislature. Such a shift does not even begin in large church gatherings on Sunday or in amazing "revival" services. Such a revolution can, however, commence with parents and children eating and enjoying dinner together or with classmates dialoguing at the lunch table or with groups of friends around a bonfire analyzing life. For, in the simple act of coming together, of sharing life with all the differences and idiosyncrasies each possesses, lies the beauty of community, and within community rests the power to change a neighborhood, a school, a county, a state, a nation.