Terry threw a wonton across the table onto his plate.
"Ignore her. Just take your time eating and don't ask any more questions until she's through. She's always this way when she goes too long without eating. I take it you gave her some sugar cubes and salt water?"
Jareth nodded.
"Yeah," Terry sighed, "Her electrolytes get down so low at times we have to do something fast to keep her from going into shock, but it seems the sugar brings them back too high too fast, when we don't get something more solid in her right away she literally causes objects to bounce up and down all over the place, large and small, hence the many kitchen remodels. Not everything bounces very well, or survives the experience."
Just then something rattled right behind Jareth. He gulped, wondering if he should duck under something no matter how undignified it would look.
Terry grinned and filled his own plate.
"Katie, I also got some potstickers. They actually had lobster ones this time."
Still in a daze she slowly spooned some rice into her mouth, chewed for just a second, then hurriedly gulped some grape juice. "Hah...Hah..HOT!" she exclaimed as she fanned her mouth. "I'm sure that was a bell pepper I chopped up and put in, I tasted just a little bit, which means I found the remnants of Mom's famous chile steak."
Momentarily abandoning her rice, she moved onto the beef and broccoli. "Terry.....thank you. You're a real life saver. I'd have to go through a gallon of milk to eat the rice and I don't much feel like drinking milk."
Terry thought for a moment. "There is someone else we forgot to thank." He held out his right hand to Jareth and his left to Katie, she grasped it with her right hand and with her left she grabbed Jareth's right hand. Jareth hesitated slightly, then completed the circle by accepting Terry's hand.
Terry and Katie bowed their heads, Jareth watched them with piercing eyes but sat quietly as Terry offered the prayer.
Father
We thank Thee for Thy providence, for Thy guidance in our daily lives.
Please bless this food before us that it will nourish and strengthen us,
and bless us with Thy continued protection and guidance as we go about our
daily tasks.
We ask this humbly in the name of Thy Holy Son,
Amen.
Terry and Katie straightened back up, reclaimed their respective hands from Jareth's grasp, and resumed eating. He gave them a thoughtful look then asked, "Do you pray regularly?"
Terry and Katie looked at each other, then Katie answered.
"We work on praying when we wake up in the morning, before we go to bed at night, for guidance, for protection, for solutions to problems which may occur, we thank Him for what blessings we have received, and we also pray before every meal to bless the food so that if there is something wrong with it that it won't affect us negatively. Occasionally we bless our enemies so that they will have the opportunity to change for the better if they choose to do so."
Terry took over.
"Some days it is hit and miss, we fail to remember to thank our Heavenly Father for providing us with another day to live and grow physically as well as spiritually and when that happens the day seems to go all wrong and we don't get done what we need to do. And, we do our best to remember that it is God's will, not ours, what happens in our lives, and we ask for understanding and patience to bear with the trials we have to under go."
Katie thought for a moment and added, "Just going through the motions of prayer like some kind of repetitive ritual, not really thinking about what you are doing or saying, having your attention wander while you are mumbling some words, that is not the proper way to do it. Ideally a person is in a quiet, private place, kneeling down with his or her head bowed before God, but that is not always possible. There are times when one has to pray while in a public place, and his or her eyes cannot be closed as it is could turn into a life or death situation....when that happens it is proper to pray silently with eyes open, and prayer in public should always be said as unobtrusively as possible unless it is a situation where one is invited to pray in public. We all have to form our own personal relationships with God. In the end, every individual stands by him or herself at the Judgment Bar and are held accountable for each thing that we have done. There is no middle man like a teacher, a priest, or a preacher between the individual and the Judge."
Jareth sat silently, lost in thought.
"I don't remember in my earlier dealings with Sarah and your family anyone being particularly religious."
Terry and Katie looked at each other, then she shrugged and answered. "Well, they weren't. You could say the events surrounding my birth and the doubt of my continued mortal existence caused our parents to have a spiritual awakening. They'd been aware for a long time that something was missing in their lives but they never had the inclination to really hunt for it, or were scared of the consequences of having their questions answered. Sarah still has doubts about any type of organized religion, which is her decision. She's still a member of this family even if we don't always see eye to eye on certain subjects, like religion, politics and your continued existence."
She smiled, changing the subject. "More rice?"
Jareth shook his head, and turned his attention to his plate, then he watched as they also resumed eating. There was a pleasant feeling in the house, something he'd never experienced before.