FRESH THYME
Do you ever just find yourself observing the normality of life and all of a sudden…a thought about what you’re seeing just teaches you something profound in a moment’s time? It happens to me all the time. And most recently, it happened on vacation.
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We stayed in this grand hotel in Abingdon, Virginia called The Martha Washington, and enjoyed breakfast a few days in their own restaurant, where we were seated in the same spot each time. One night, we ate dinner there and a man playing the piano made up an anniversary song just for us! But that’s not the story here…
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I was eating my food, anxious to get about our itinerary for the day, when I noted the chairs in the dining room. The fabric on them was different and didn’t match each other, but yet it worked. I hadn’t seen it before, but there were about four different patterns of material, swatches I don’t think I would have put together at all. But somehow, when looking across the room, the view was beautiful.
And then I realized that what made all of these different fabrics look cohesive and pretty was the framework of the individual chairs. That was the common piece that coordinated all of the different patterns in the fabric. I wondered if there could have been a dozen different swatches that would have then looked perfect, placed in the solid and repeated framework of all the chairs in the dining room.
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I thought of this crazy world in which we live and all the discord among people, even those who profess to be Christian. In fact, there are some days I’m ashamed to call myself “Christian” since there’s such a negative connation because of this exact thing – we’re all different! Some of us carry more shades of gray than others because life just hasn’t been that colorful. Others have stripes and dots galore because we’re just over the top. And still others are elegantly balanced and then out of focus and then clearly back again. We’re all so unique, due to where we’ve been and what we’ve experienced in life.
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And yet, those of us that profess to love Jesus have this framework. We love him, and he loves us, and it joins us together in this pretty and solid wood frame that then surrounds us all and presents to the world a pretty room. One that’s inviting to sit and linger with a cup of coffee, or enjoy a guy playing the piano over in the corner. And even when the table is empty, we look nice around it and inviting, offering all those who are hungry or thirsty to come and sit a while with us…in this room full of different yet the same.
The only problem is that we have presented broken chairs to the world, ones no one could possibly sit in because they’d fall to the ground. We’ve let problems and discord and worry and fret, judgment and sorrow and anger and hate, seep into even our framework. Oh, Jesus isn’t broken, we are just forgetting who He is and who we are, and how we’re supposed to be the light that’s INVITING, not FOREBODING.
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The dining room where we frequented often that week then took on a whole new look to me. What I hadn’t seen before were the differing patterns that were held together by the frame of the common chairs, ones that invited all of the guests to sit in this elegant place and be served the most delicious fare. And the room was for every guest, not just those with the right shoes or political agenda, or those who spoke elegantly or moved in the right circles. It was for those who were hungry…
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I appreciate the differences in others, most of the time. But, I too can jump on that train of pointing fingers and causing discord, which only results in scratched finishes and broken arms and legs. A chair no one wants to sit in. And if they do, it’s certainly not comfortable.
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Jesus is our frame. He’s the one who holds us together, bound by his great love. And he’s the one that secures the fabric of who we all are to his frame, inviting all who pass by to sit. And all of these differences, along with his sameness, present the prettiest dining room in the world…with the light present streaming in the windows…as we enjoy life together in Him.