This morning as I spent time with the Lord, I looked at our living room. We’ve recently purchased new furniture, as you might remember from my previous post from July 5th, and I was thinking how nice it looked.
Then my eyes fell on our more than 24-year-old coffee table in the midst of all our new furniture. Battered and well worn, it certainly looked out of place. We had looked at new ones, but none of them seemed right. After we got all the new furniture in place, we put our aged coffee table in the middle of the room and it seemed to be just the perfect choice, except for the color. We decided Dan and Eric would refinish it in a darker color to better match our new end tables. Getting this done has not been high-priority, so it remains, looking very miss-matched.
I love that old coffee table. It was given to me when I was still single and couldn’t afford furniture, so it’s been with me for almost as long as I can remember. Over the years it’s served many purposes, but the one that came to mind that morning was the many times our family has knelt around it to pray. It was the perfect height when our children were younger and they could rest their little elbows on it, or even lay their heads down as they listened to us pray and then offered up their innocent, child-like prayers. This is where each of them learned how to pray as they followed Mom and Dad’s example.
No wonder it holds a special place in my heart. To me, it no longer looked old and battered, but like an altar, a unique treasure that holds countless precious memories.
I was reminded of the Scripture in Luke 2:19. After the shepherd’s visit, Mary’s thoughts are expressed like this: “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
What are you treasuring in your heart today? Please share with me by leaving a comment.
Finding Joy in the Journey,
Phyllis
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Phyllis Sather
Proclaiming God’s Faithfulness at:
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© 2008 Phyllis Sather
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Oh, yes, Phyllis, I love Dan’s Doodles, too.
Phyllis,
WOW! Talk about sentimental! Yes, it has taken me some time to get to my emails as I’ve been blessed to have attended a retreat with the most special group of ladies I’ve ever been privileged to minister to the Lord with in my life. There is such a closeness that I’ve never experience prior to this group. I guess we see ourselves as the ‘furniture’ in our group. We each have our own personalities but have one goal and purpose, to be who and what God desires us to be. Our treasure box at this retreat was to offer up to 4 men from Bangladesh the opportunity to continue their education for the purpose of learning to properly pastor the churches they’re leading there. What a blessing it is to live in these wonderful United States even with all the turmoil we seem to be in right now. Imagine being the pastor of a church body whose homes get burned down as it is found that a family member is a Christian. Or that the church building is burned down and many of the attendees are tortured beyond belief. And these 4 men can hardly wait to serve the churches in the correct manner that will be pleasing to the Lord. I am honored to have the opportunity to pray for them.
Well, getting back to the ‘altar’ in the midst of your living room. I recall when, as I small child I was living in Columbia, SC and a neighbor, Bro. Braswell, was such a Godly man. EVERY night at 8:00 o’clock he, his wife and anyone/everyone who was there, knelt down at their couches, chairs, and yes, their coffee table, to pray. The prayers lasted at least 30 minutes and there was Bible reading following the prayer. What a great memory bank the Lord has gifted me with. Thank you, Phyllis, for reminding me of the great store God has blessed me in.
May the Lord continue to richly to bless you in everything you do.
And I like your coffee table.
Jennie
I guess this morning I am in a thankful mood, I am actualy taking time to send a quick note to a couple of people that send out the wonderful devotions and curriculum helps. I loved your story of your coffee table. We too have an old piece of furniture that we are sentimental about. It is a dresser that belonged to my husbands grandmother and it is starting to look like it. We had 3 pieces of that set, the chest of drawers is still here too, but in much better shape. The bed, which they picked the cotton and stuffed the first matress for is long gone. We just hate to part with those 2 pieces, it’s like getting rid of grandma…. The chest of drawers has 2 drawings on it too, my son (now 12) decided to draw me a couple of pictures one day, I was able to figure out the frog, he was 2, but the turtle stumped me. The chest is now in his room, and the dresser is now in my office/guest room. 2 drawers need some glue and some tlc, but will have to wait a while, at least until I have a kitchen sink in my kitchen, we are remodeling. Anyway, thanks for the weekly emails, I do enjoy them, and thank your husband for the doodles, they are cool. Also, it is so cool to see you and others who minister to me and my family in the talk-a-latte chats, I just get tickeld thinking, hey I know who that is…..
Valerie Neal
Texarkana, TX