The Two-Year Table
When Rich and I bought our home, we also, for the first time in our adult lives, bought new furniture chosen specifically for our new house. No more cast-off coffee tables or second-hand sofas for us: finally, in midlife, we would enjoy a home furnished just as we wanted it.
We selected most of the new furniture in time for delivery on moving day, but we were still hunting for one special item. We wanted a nice accent table to sit next to the easy chair in our living room, just in front of the bay window.
It seemed, as time passed, that we were not meant to have this table. On several occasions, I would find something that I thought was perfect, only to check its dimensions and find that it was too large, too tall, too narrow. Or we’d see a table advertised that looked promising, only to discover it was no longer available. Once I found a table I loved–but it cost more than I was willing to spend.
And so it went. Our lonely easy chair sat without a table to serve it for over two years.
During that time my mother became ill and died. Dad relocated to Southern California and began the long, sad task of “sorting out his stuff.”
One day he sent an email to my siblings and me: “I have the cabinet that held your great-grandmother’s sewing machine. Would any of you like to have it?” My brother and sister both declined. I asked Dad if he could measure the cabinet.
It was exactly the dimensions we needed to fill the spot next to our chair in the living room. We brought it home and set it in the long-empty spot. Finally, our furnishings were complete.
And this table was more special than any we could have bought. It’s a treasured family antique whose presence reminds me of the wonderful women in my family who came before me.
I think of our search for that table when I’m praying for something and it’s not forthcoming. It helps me to remember that when I honor God’s timeline and submit to His will, He provides far beyond what I had imagined for myself.
13 I am still confident of this:I will see the goodness of the Lordin the land of the living.14 Wait for the Lord;be strong and take heartand wait for the Lord.Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV)
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