This is my beloved, "most comfortable ever" couch! If you have been to our home in recent years, you have probably cringed at the thought of having to sit on it! Yeah, I saw that look in your eyes. You look at my couch and see rips, smudges, grime and....isn't that a bed sheet?But when I look at my couch, I see something totally different! I recall two young lovers making their first major furniture purchase over 16 years ago. I remember the countless nights of sharing dinner on our couch while watching Star Trek Enterprise. I think of our naughty puppy, Sasha, perched upon the back of the couch, staring out the window, awaiting my return from work. I see friends laughing and lounging and proclaiming what I have always known, "Yes indeed, you do have the most comfortable couch ever!" I see our first-born infant napping with dad. Years later he is protectively posing with his baby sister and later still, the two of them taking turns feeding a bottle to our third child. I hear stories being read, songs being sung, boisterous laughter and muffled cries as we shared our joys and burdens through the years. My couch is forever intertwined with all that I treasure. It is my sentient scrapbook.
I am reminded of something in scripture:
The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.
I Samuel 16:7b NIV
Thankfully, God treasures me more than I treasure my couch.
Mercifully, He sees me, not for my flaws, but as I am fixed in His son.
Pain-stakingly, He removes my stains and restores me.
PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THINGS.
I say this to my kids regularly. Slowly, methodically, I have been trying to model this by easing my grip on those inanimate things that I so cherish. I have been shopping for a replacement for my ugly couch. I want our home to be comfortable for entertaining. I hope that instead of our home being a place where you are counting the minutes until you can leave to wash off the possible contamination from decades of stains and germs lurking on my couch, it will be a place where you are free to spill your drink on my new, stain-guarded couch and where you dread the closure of our wonderful time together.
My husband, who hates to shop, has been accompanying me on countless furniture excursions over the past three weeks. I guess that is because I am more important to him than things, like relaxing on our soon to be replaced ugly couch. That, and he doesn't want me to come home with something too flowery or too expensive or too petite. I'm not the flowery type, nor am I a heavy spender. But I could be a minimalist, and I am grateful for the company and feedback. Finding the perfect furniture at the perfect price is a big undertaking; and the perfect guy is at my side through it all!
This is me letting go. Or trying to.
Letting go of my couch and cherishing the memories.
Letting go of my desire for perfection and cherishing my time with others.
Letting go of my perception of failure and cherishing the lessons learned.
Letting go of my inhibitions and cherishing embracing life.
This is me, cherishing letting go!
