The Banquet at 2:00AM

Life is a banquet.  And most of you poor sons of bitches are starving to death.
     from the Broadway show, Mame

We once heard a speaker share a powerful story about experiencing true joy and abundance in   this life.  The speaker talked about how he had been leading a seminar late into the evening and didn’t have time to eat all day.  So after the seminar was over that night he stopped at an all-night, hole-in-the-wall diner to grab a bite to eat.  This is the powerful story he told:

It was 2:00a.m.  There was no one else in the place.   

After a few minutes a woman walked in and apparently ordered the same food that she ordered every other night. She sat down down near the speaker and after a while struck up a conversation.  with him because she had never seen him in the diner before. She started sharing her story and he shared his.  He learned that despite spending every night with many different men, she was very lonely.  Before she left that night she told him that the next day was her birthday.  He asked what she would be doing to celebrate this special day. 

She said that she would spend it like she had spent every other birthday of her life — alone.  It would not be a special day that year, because it never had been before. 

After she was out the door the man turned to the owner of the diner and asked if he could use the diner the following night at 2:00a.m. to throw her a huge celebration — a banquet. 

2:00a.m. arrived.  So did the woman.  Except this night instead of eating her usual meal alone, the diner was packed full with people from their community — his friends and family — ready to celebrate this special day.  It was truly a birthday to remember — a banquet of love, of joy, of grace, of hope. 

Today as we recount the speaker’s story, we have been reminded that life truly is meant to be a banquet.  For many people, though, it is not.  Perhaps for all of us at one time or another we have not been seated at the table, at the banquet, either.  Maybe it’s right now, in fact.  Maybe we don’t feel as if we are really loved or that we are able to give love ourselves.  Maybe we don’t experience any joy or are not able to share joy with others..  Maybe we have not had grace extended to us or cannot extend grace when it’s needed.  Maybe we have no hope and cannot offer hope to those around us.  

Maybe we are starving to death at the banquet of life, not enjoying the richness, the goodness, the blessedness that life is meant to offer.  Maybe we are lonely, sad or afraid.  Maybe it’s 2:00a.m. and you feel alone, with nothing to celebrate, nothing special in your life. 

Yet it’s important to know that even at 2:00a.m. there are those who care.  It is important to know that your life is meaningful and of value.  That no matter how stuck in a rut, dark or seemingly hopeless your circunstances may be, there are people who care — we care.  If it’s 2:00a.m. for you we would like to know that you have a safe place to share, to reach out to, to celebrate your life — as it is meant to be celebrated.

None of us needs to starve to death.  All of us have a seat at the banquet table and are invited to be filled with the goodness, the bounty, that life is meant to offer.

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash