Ahhhh, the school lunch tray. A complete sociology study on lunchroom dynamics, cliques, and peer pressure. We all remember those days: who to sit with, what if there isn’t room at the table, am I part of the cool kid group? As a school lunch lady who deals with food prep, serving, and the ubiquitous plastic lunch tray through the return window, I have come to the conclusion that I can separate the lunch trays in groups that correspond to the kids that grouped together at the cafeteria tables. How? Let me tell you what the secret life of the lunch tray tells me that pertains to us all.
We all rub off on each other
Part of the cool fifth graders? Big fish in the elementary school pond? Your tray is pretty clear except for a the long compartment on the side edge full of ketchup or bbq sauce fully contained and maybe a few crumbs. A first grader? Your posse might be the group of 5-6 kids who have every sauce available smeared in every compartment of the tray in the same identical order on each tray. You could take a blotch test pressing with paper from the groups that have the exact same smears on their trays.
I don’t know if the kids even realize or if it’s subconscious but the group they sit with speaks on their tray. Maybe they all dare each other to smear the sauces in the same area of each tray? Who knows. Junior high: well, you can put a face with the tray that comes back. In the same way people you sit with reflect their habits on your “tray” as you walk through the cafeteria of life.
Tidiness also rubs off
A conscientious fourth grader? Those fourth graders look up to the fifth graders and the knowledge that they will be big fish on campus the very next fall while the current fifth graders feel like kings holding a secret dear-in -headlights look when they think about moving up to middle school with the big guys. Those trays are spic and span, wiped nicely and returned in orderly stacks from certain pockets of kids at the tables. Tidiness spreads to others just as much as dares to be gross do.
Think you’re immune?
Think you are totally immune to the influence of the lunch tray because your tray doesn’t exactly match your peer? The junior high and high school try to look completely “nonchalant, laissez-faire, who cares”. But when we go to put those trays through the washer, we find telltale signs of peer pressure rubbing off: the gum hiding underneath, the braces rubber bands hiding under leftovers. Their trays turn from open book life to hidden self-consciousness. We see the awkwardness of trying to look cool and be cool by passing over certain foods if friends scoff at it, even when they are ragingly hungry. The food will get sent back hardly eaten.
Whether food is sent back untouched, items are hidden in the detritus, or there is a distinct lack of anything on the tray compared to what was taken, the lunch tray secret saga continues to tattletale.
The Bible talks about “lunch trays”
Even though the days of school cafeteria lunch trays are behind me, there are still work and social outings that have their own “lunch trays”. If you’ve ever been to an Ikea or work conference, you know what I’m talking about. The Bible actually has some distinct passages that relate to who you sit with and hang around with. Part of our ministry here on earth is to reach people for Christ, see a person who was made in God’s image hidden under all the trappings of the world and reach out in love with a rescue line. Let’s take a look at the Biblical “lunch tray” reflection:
In the World, Not of the World
What does that even look like? Practically, it means to orbit people in the world but not be party to the way the world behaves and it’s hatred of the things of God. It’s the difference between stopping by a lunch room cafeteria table to fist pump, say hi, and genuinely catch up with someone’s life versus sitting down, shoving people over, and joining in the drama and the dares of ketchup smearing (ungodly behavior) going on with lunch trays at the table. Jesus prays regarding His followers in the book of John:
“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ” John 17: 14-18 NIV
John 17:14-18 NIV
Blessed lunch trays
The Christian needs to be careful that they join in, pull up a lunch chair, and squeeze extra bbq sauce on the entree with people who rub off the values of God on our lunch tray–not the other way around by smearing worldly sauce all over Godliness. We like to think that peer pressure is just a junior high thing but the people we look up to, reflect, and take in what they are valuing will sometimes make us hide our light under the lunch tray. Slowly over time, we hide Biblical values under the leftovers like the gum or braces rubber bands whether knowingly or unknowingly.
“Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example],
Psalm 1:1 Amplified Bible
Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of]scoffers (ridiculers).”
Be the lead lunch tray and others will follow
There are numerous other Bible passages talking about how we should walk in this world. Being in the Word of God will help you to recognize what your lunch tray suddenly starts looking like and whether what you find there is a good thing or not. Reverse influence of the lunch trays is also talked about in the Bible.
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12 NIV
You can be the steadfast “luncher” who has a tray confident in main and side choices with sauces. Holding a tray full of stable and true lunch decisions that slowly start to rub off on those around you. Eventually to return a stack of trays that glorifies God (and pleases the lunch lady to boot).
” In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned…”
Titus 2:7-8a NIV
