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How God used an old oak table to get a prayer out of me
How God used an old oak table to get a prayer out of me
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I have an old oak dining table. It was beaten down, very used, was getting weak. Many times I thought of just throwing it away, but for some reason, I never could. It became a catch all, I would set plants or whatever else didn't have a specific place, onto it. It was always cluttered it seems. When my kids grew up and went out on their own, I tried to give it to them but neither wanted it. Today I was really called to do something with that old oak table, it was one of those nagging feelings. I brushed it off for a couple of hours but it just wouldn't go away. I don't know why or how I came up with the idea to make something of it, but in my head I thought "I'm no carpenter" and I know I heard a voice inside that said "but I am".
The table was one of those with the expanders. I finally took apart the table and decided I was going to use the good half and make a nice accent table and I took apart those expanders (which was a major pain) so I could use it to make the table more sturdy. I was going to repurpose it. Something that didn't take up so much room but at least I would still have that old oak table. I had no drill, so I painstakingly took each piece apart by hand using a screwdriver and then found a way to put it back together without ruining it. After a few hours grueling work, I looked at my not so handy craftsmanship and I realized I had tears streaming down my face. I took something so battered and bruised and instead of tossing it aside, I wiped away the broken parts and made it whole again. I realized that God wanted to do this with me. He wanted to take my broken parts, even though He's had to struggle to get them apart and make them more sturdy, give them new purpose and maybe some day those parts can shine again.
In the end, I have a beautiful accent table that with some polish around the edges, will shine again. I reflected on the use of a drill verses a screwdriver, and thought of how we always want thing more quickly, but the best things are worth waiting for, and I know, at that moment, I heard that voice inside me, the one I heard before, and this time it said "I never said it would be easy".
There's a lesson in everything, even when we're not looking.
