The Empty Table

This is one of our favorite restaurants, but tonight it was very noisy and crowded.
 "Sweet hunter" told me that
we would just say our own prayer quietly. 
So we bowed our heads and were thankful.


When I looked up, I saw this table next to us.  There was a beautiful
family sitting there.  There was a Dad, Mom, and a teenage boy.
Their heads were bowed and I told my husband
to look how precious they were praying together.


Then I noticed...............they weren't praying!
They each had a cell phone and were looking down at their phones.
As the food came, they would look up and eat, yet never say a word to each other.
The Mom had a serious look on her face as she looked at her cell phone.
The Dad chuckled as he was reading or playing games.
The teenage boy was texting the whole time.

Then a little girl about 9 or 10 years old appeared.
She went to her Mother's side and whispered something to her.
Her Mother pushed her aside and went back to her cell phone.
The little girl looked heart broken.
The little girl asked the teenage brother something.
His eyes looked up from the phone for a second and said, "NO!"
She had tears in her eyes as she asked her Dad to take her to the bathroom.
(this must be what she had asked the others.)
Then he looked up and said, "I thought you just went to the bathroom."
She said, "I was scared."
(This bathroom was on the other side of the crowded restaurant.)

The Mom, Dad and teenage boy ate their food and never hardly looked up.        
This is sad but a true story and it happens every day.
This happened last night.

                     The little girl sat there with tears coming down her eyes but she was quiet.

                 She broke my heart.

          Would you let your little girl go to the bathroom by herself in a huge crowded restaurant?

                          They brought the check and the Mom grabbed it and paid.

                  They all left with cell phones in hand with the little girl following behind crying.

                      I never saw the little girl eat a bite. I never heard her say another word.

Do I have a cell phone?  Yes.   

Is my cell phone more important than my family? No.
What have we become? I want to be so careful.
I love to learn lessons like this.

The table was full of a beautiful family, but what I saw was..............

 The Empty Table.