An Ever Changing Canvas

One of the most vivid memories I have of my Grandparents' house is of their kitchen table. a table made of dark heavy wood, and large enough to seat  a crowd. The thing I remember the most however is the two worn spots where they always sat. The finish was worn almost completely off  in front of the two chairs where they enjoyed many meals and card games. I can remember thinking that they'd spent a lifetime together side by side just as their table suggested.

After Luke and I were engaged and we began thinking about what our home would look like, one of the first things we agreed we would need was a good kitchen table. We spent hours looking in furniture stores trying to decide which one we thought would best fit our home and budget. With Luke being a pastor we knew we would want to entertain alot so we would need a large table. We knew we wanted to have kids so we needed a table that you could easily sit a high chair at. We knew we wouldn't be monetarily rich so we needed a table that would last a long time. After shopping around we finally found a table that we thought was good fit for us. It was quite expensive but knew that it would be a good investment.  We planned to purchase it after returning from our honeymoon so we could use money from our wedding gifts to afford it.

Shockingly we were given the exact set we had been wanting as a gift. Several families at the church that Luke had been serving at went in together and purchased it as a surprise for us. It has turned out to be the best wedding present ever! Every time we have company, or even just sit down for dinner I think of what a blessing the table has been to us.

Yesterday I was cooking dinner while Jonas napped and Joshua sat at the table coloring. Looking over to where Joshua was hard at worked I smiled as I told him, "Only on the paper please." He mumbled okay and got back to work and I thought to myself, "that table has become an ever changing canvas reflecting the picture of our lives."

In the center of it is a small discolored area where just after we were married I set an extremely hot casserole dish down with nothing underneath and it scarred the wood. Instead of seeing a flaw there though, I see a memory of when our lives were just beginning together and I barely knew the first thing about cooking. The Chair where Joshua sits is a little stained from baby food, spaghetti sauce and whatever else has been smeared onto its surface. At the edges there's a little red paint from a time that Joshua and I were working on a craft together and missed the newspaper covering the surface. The list of added "imperfections" is not a short one, but that's what I love about it.

That table tells the story of our family. A few mishaps here and there, but all in all its still in really great shape almost 5 years later. Just as I wipe it clean time and time again the Lord wipes our slate clean when we make messes. Sometimes you can see a little imperfection left behind but God is molding us into something even better.

 Many people have sat at that table eating dinner, having devotions or playing games and felt the love of Christ through our family just like we hoped they would even before we owned it. In many ways it has played a intricate role in our ministry.

I look forward to the day when the finish is coming off our table just as it did my grandparents'. The look of it will have become something totally different, but something even better.

Making Memories Around our Table