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.