Moving Furniture

We are waiting for some furniture to be delivered.
The new furniture will go in our family room.
The old furniture will go into our finished basement.
A lot of moving around will be happening in a few hours.

The old furniture is leather; the new furniture is leather.
Leather lasts and lasts.
Our current furniture was bought when our youngest daughter was four years old.
She is now almost twenty-seven years old.

I thought about the amount of life this furniture has seen.
When my children were sick, they would lay on the long sofa under a cozy blanket.
Many books were read on both the sofa and the love seat.
My comfy leather recliner, has held children and grandchildren on my lap.

If furniture could talk.
Conversations were had there.
Tears were shed there.
Stories were told there.

Magazines would have you believe that people change furniture like they change shoes.
Not so in our house.
Our furniture tells our history and still has life in it.
However, it was time to change things up a bit.

A friend of mind knows a thing or two about horses.
I asked her many years ago the little lines I was beginning to see in the leather.
She reminded me that saddles are made of leather.
Those lines are signs of wear and are supposed to happen.

You could use some saddle soap, she told me, which softens the leather.
I tried it once, but didn’t like the way it felt.
Even after buffing it, the saddle soap left a residue.
I ended up cleaning the saddle soap off the small area on which it was tested.

I actually grew to appreciate the faint lines I saw in the leather.
It gives it character, I decided.
What good is furniture that is not used?
What good is a house in pristine condition where everyone is afraid to touch anything?

When we moved into our neighborhood, we were greeted by our next door neighbor.
Flowers were brought over on behalf of he and his wife.
I watched him look around as he walked through the downstairs rooms.
I love that there is no need for museum ropes in here, he remarked.

I guess I looked confused.
This house makes me feel as if I want to sit in a chair under a blanket and read a book.
To this day, I have not had a sweeter compliment.
He got the essence of our home; the way I want our home to be for all who visit here.

With old things and quilts and lots of wood, I do hope it is cozy and comfortable.
With toys in baskets in the back corner of the family room, it is a home well used.
With pictures of our family, it is a place that tells a story.
I even have a wooden sign that says: Home is where your story begins.

Some people move quite often.
Some people’s roots go down very deep.
It takes great skill to make a house a home.
Homemaking is an intentional act of love.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.   (John 14:1-4)

Can you imagine Jesus moving furniture?
He is getting our heavenly home ready for us.
A lot of life, eternal life, will be lived there with Him forever.
Jesus’ Homemaking is an intentional act of His love.

Tend to your earthly home now.
Be intentional, making sure that it is lived in well.
Look forward, in Christ, to living in the Heavenly Home that Jesus is preparing.
No decorator could do a better job than He.