The Kitchen Bar Stools

Sometimes I have too much time to think about things. Like when I'm waiting for Maggie to get out of the car because she takes twenty minutes to inspect the floor for any treasures she might have dropped. Or when I am scrubbing marker off the couch, or waiting for the carpet cleaner to soak in so I can "dab it with a moist sponge" (who really does that anyway?).  A lot of times I will fixate on something to take my mind off of the frustration of the current moment. Lately, (and by that I mean, for the past year) I have been kind of obsessing about kitchen bar stools.

As I'm mopping the floor where I'd like the bar stools to sit, I have this conversation with myself:

Man, it'd be nice to have some bar stools here.
Yeah, but the kids would probably ruin them.
I know. But I could get the all-wood kind so I can buff out and stain any marks.
Yeah, but this is a rental house, you probably shouldn't spend money on furniture to fit this house.
When you're right, you're right, Nikki. But I could peruse Craigslist and maybe find something cheap.
We've been talking about this for a year now. And you still haven't found anything decent there.
I know, maybe I should just buy some sturdy ones and then we can sell them on Craigslist if they don't fit our next house.
Remember Sunday's sermon about where your heart is? Maybe you shouldn't be so consumed with these bar stools.
Yeah.
Then, for just a few minutes longer, I allow myself to daydream about parties and dinners with people sitting at my kitchen counter, while I wear my frilly apron, before putting the bar stools out of my head for a while.

So last Saturday, we loaded up the family to head to Sea World. Two blocks from our house, we pass a really nice set of chairs and a table. There's a "Free" sign taped to one of the chairs. My Chef and I look at each other like we can't believe our eyes.  We circle back and sure enough, it doesn't appear like there is any damage. We quickly decide that we can use this table. As we are loading up the chairs, I say to My Chef "Well, now we won't need any bar stools. This can go in the kitchen."  I am smiling ear to ear about this when the owner of the house comes out.  We chat it up for a few minutes to find out she is moving into a smaller home and ended up not needing the table and didn't want to bother with selling it. Then she looked us up and down and asked if we lived in her development.

"Yes, yes" we say.
"Then you must have the same kitchen counter as I do?" she inquired.
"Uhm. Maybe. It's pretty tall." we say.
"Well, do you need some bar stools?"

I couldn't help but feel the lesson God was telling me. When I take up less space in my heart with worries about money and material things, He will show me that He will provide and pour out blessings in ways we would never imagine.

The "free" table:

Fancy new bar stools:

It might seem silly to think about chairs and a table being a blessing. But come Thanksgiving, when I have a house full of people I love, sitting around talking and laughing, I will be counting the chairs and the people sitting in them as blessings.

The Wailing Wall

Anybody out there familiar with The Wailing Wall?  I wasn't, until this week when a friend offered to take any prayer requests to this wall with her as she is going to Jerusalem in a few days.

If you are not familiar, and have to Wikipedia it like I did yesterday, then let me give you the jist of it. The wailing wall is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Temple Mount. It is said that whispering your prayers to the wall will get your prayers to God's ear faster since it is the holiest of holy places and the gate of heaven is near. Apparently, people also leave prayer notes in the cracks of the wall. 

Here's the thing. I'm not sure I really buy into it. I'm no biblical / religious / theological intellect, but I believe in God. And from what I've heard, I don't think He's going to push someone's prayer request to the bottom of His to-do list because they traveled all the way to this wall while someone else just had to jot down her prayer on a bathroom wall of the discount mart.

BUT here's the other thing...I'm gonna send one anyway.  From what I've read about prayer, you're supposed to do it earnestly and without ceasing. We're also supposed to carry one another's burdens and pray for one another like they are our own children. It is in this spirit that I am going to send a prayer for someone else halfway around the globe. It's a prayer I have been asking for years, that I am going to trust someone else to carry to God's ear.  Not because I think that this particular wall is any closer than what's in my very heart; but as an act of never ceasing to bring to God the burdens of those I love.

If the answer to my prayer is to keep on praying....then maybe I will just get out my sharpie and head over the The Boutique or the other discount mart and start my own little wailing wall...

or maybe I'll just blog about it. ;)