The table is set and ready. When I look at it with everything in place and the chairs waiting to be filled with my people, I realize how much I want to see their faces around this table. Our Thanksgiving meal did not happen this year and even though this table was empty, we still gave thanks for all of our many blessings. This is why I am faithfully asking God to fill this table at Christmas.
This is not just any dining room table. Scott built this table for me the first year we were married. One Saturday, we went into an antique store, and I fell in love with an antique wooden dining table. I think it was priced at $2000, and in those days, we rarely had $20. Scott looked at it carefully and told me he was going to build it for me. He had never built anything for me at that point, so I just kind of shrugged and said ok. At that time, we lived in a rental house and the only place he had to work was the carport, so the next few weeks, he would come home from work, eat my terrible cooking then head to the carport. I would hear him sawing and hammering, but I honestly did not think too much about what he was actually doing. When he was finally ready to show me, he asked me to come out to the carport and I was shocked. He had actually built me that table and it was beautiful. I remember running my hand over the wooden planks as he tried to explain why there were slight imperfections. I was not really listening to him because all I could do is stare in disbelief that he had built this. It was perfect. We proudly moved into our huge dining room in our rental house, but at first, we did not eat at it. I think because it seemed massive and there were only two of us. Like all good little house wives, I put a flower arrangement on it, and we continued to eat my terrible cooking in the kitchen.
After our first year of marriage, we were ready to buy a house. We looked and looked at houses and were quickly realizing it was hard to find a house in our price range with a dining room large enough for our table. We were seriously trying to find a house where this table would fit, so Scott thought maybe we should just sell it. He figured he would eventually build another one, but I would not dream of letting this table go. Finally, the right house came along with a dining area large enough for our table. Just a few years later, Drew was born, then Josh, and we were using our table all the time. Luke was on the way once we moved into the home we are living in now. I remember when we found this house. I immediately loved the dining room because I knew our table would look amazing in it.
Now when I look at this table, I remember all of the birthday celebrations, all of the holiday meals, all of the friends playing games, all of the family sharing stories, all of the high chairs hooked to it and extra chairs added around it. I remember new friends eating their first meals with us and loved ones last meals with us. Friends had become family around this table, and I am flooded with all the memories of laughter and tears. Most importantly, I remember all of the tiny teaching moments with our sons about a life of faith.
Scott and I have been married for 33 years, and this year, there have not a lot of people around this table. This year our house has been the quietest it has been in all our years together. At one point, Scott thought it would be a good idea to build us a new table because what once seemed massive now seems small because of our growing family. He would love nothing more than to build a bigger and better one, but I just cannot part with this one.
This table is part of our story, our legacy, and not only represents the beginning of our family, but it's where we watched our sons grow into men. Men, who I have prayed to be amazing husbands, and to be men who work, who lead, and who love their families faithfully just like their father has done and continues to do. They may not build their wives a table, but I know each one, Drew, Josh and Luke will each build their own legacies to pass down, and it will be built with the same love that built this table.
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