If The Coffee Table Could Talk

I was urged to write today about a coffee table because of a devotional I read called, "Faithfulness and a Coffee Table" by Lynn Cowell at Proverbs 31 ministries website. I sat here and read her devotional....and had a warm feeling of love come over me and knew at that very moment todays blog would be about my special coffee table. Once upon a time what now serves as my coffee table belonged to my MIL. She had had it for years and it was stored in a barn when I found it. It was so dusty and abused...and Early American style...which my first sofa....over 35 years ago was. It was a perfect match...and about the only piece of furniture this young bride had that matched anything. I lived in a state of early eclectic. I had been married 20 years before I had anything that was a set....but back to the coffee table. I took the coffee table home, stripped it, and restained it to match the wooden insets on the couch...it became the teething arena for a gnawing baby, it became the spill zone for drinks, it became a desk to study by for college, it was my bible study area. I loved this table. When Ronnie and I divorced...I made sure it went with me...because it had so many memories. My aunt Shirley had a special friend, Claude, and he took my early American coffee table one day and made it into a shadow box. The legs are still the same...but now it truly is a memory keeper of sorts. I have black velvet lining the bottom and tiny treasure filling the inside. This table is once again an eclectic piece of furniture in my house. It matches nothing...but it holds my life story and I would never part with it.I have looked many times at a new table. You know the kind...that actually match my decor. I have found out in my life...eclectic suits me best. I am a Heinz 57 kind of girl. I don't have one particular taste...I like story pieces....comfy pieces, matching? What is that? My daughter, Amy and her husband have this really cool coffee table that becomes a table....AND has a drawer for storage...but as much as I love it...I love mine more...so my little old table remains in its place of honor.
The table serves as a reminder of all the good things that have been in my life. It is a reminder of my past....where I once was, before Christ...and where I am now...with Christ in my life. It is my transformation reminder. It is my reminder of what He can do...if I let Him. Now, don't get me wrong...I truly am a person of change. When I get frustrated or angry...look at furniture it is rearranging time. I also love changing bedspreads, curtains, wall colors. I love new things. I love how they smell, look, make me feel. My husband has learned to just roll with the flow. He never knows what he is coming home to. After my dad died...my friend Susan spent a week with me. Frank left for work and we had cream colored walls everywhere...he came home and we had a taupe colored guest room and guest bath with new adornments. I had enough paint to do the hall and fireplace(idea from a Lowes you can do it catalog)...so watch out! I am hoping to talk Susan into coming back....I want to paint the living room and dining room too....and maybe my bedroom. I am tired of rental house drab....I want to spice it up a bit. I love the change that comes with new paint; new color. I don't have to have Coach or Dooney Burke purses. I don't need Jimmy Choo shoes...but Lord just give me a room transformation and I am the ultimate Happy Camper. I am a thrifty shoppe and I like things that I can change with little money. My table was one of those things...and I am reminded with I look at it that old things are also important. They are reminders of the past. Every time I look at my table....even though it has been transformed, I see the past...I remember sweet little Kathryn chewing on the corners as she cut her teeth....and I smile. My dishes...reminders of a teenager preparing for a new life as a wife someday. My dining room suite...part of my mom and dad, the guest bedroom suite - part of my Aunt MaeBelle's life with my Uncle Art...a cedar chest - a cast off from my MIL...photos....reminders of special events and trips. I hope one day my children will want to have one of these reminder's for their homes and it will give them the same pleasure I have gotten from them over the years. What is your memory keeper?