waiting.

13 years ago my Mom downsized and moved out of my childhood home. We had lived in that small 3-bedroom home for over 20 years, with as many as 10 of us under the same roof at one time. Although space was tight, and bathrooms were in short supply (1.5) there was plenty of room one place – at the Kitchen Table.

In 1959, my Dad had a custom table built to seat his multitudes of children. Even though it was never much to look at, wood covered by a gray formica countertop surface, it was definitely sturdily built and large enough for all of us. It was the place that everything that was anything happened.

Birthdays, Sunday dinners, parties, homework, games, conversations, arguments, countless Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, interventions – our whole life centered around that table. And shockingly, when my Mom was moving out, none of my brothers or sisters had room for it in their homes.

At the time, I was living in a small home with my husband, awaiting the birth of our first child. We had nowhere to put the table, but we decided to hold onto it for “someday”. So we put it in our basement. Of the first house, the second house, the third house, the fourth house.

Did I mention it’s HUGE? 7.5 ft x 4.5 ft. And HEAVY? Yet we continued to lug it around and store it while we waited for the right spot to put it. Let’s just say it’s not the style, color or size table that you can put just anywhere!

I thought of many uses for it over the years, but none were ever the right fit.

And so it sat. waiting. for the right place. and time.

All my life I have dreamed of living on a lake, as my family did when I was a very young, but were forced to move. For the last 10 years my husband and I have come close to purchasing a cabin several times, and this summer while visiting friends, we looked at a place for sale on their lake. When I saw it for the first time through the windows, my eyes welled with tears and my heart leapt…I knew it was “the one.” I tried hard not to get my hopes up, in case we didn’t end up getting the house.

But in the back of my mind, all I could think was: this would be the PERFECT place for the Kitchen Table.

Last Thursday, my family hosted Thanksgiving at our new lake house. And all 11 of us were seated around the Kitchen Table.
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When the Table came into the room for the first time at MY house, my life literally flashed before my eyes. It was like everything that ever mattered to me as a child was validated by its very presence in the room. Tears of joy flowed freely, and the peace I felt was indescribable.

13 long years… but beyond a doubt, worth the wait.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:11

What is it that you’re waiting for in your life? A job? Forgiveness? A new chapter in your life to begin? Healing? Restoration of a relationship?

Sometimes we wait in fear or desperation. But we should be waiting with hope.

God will deliver.