The Standard September 16, 2023
When we emptied my mom’s townhouse in Maryland three years ago, in order for her to downsize to NC, all eventual recipients of her furniture were accounted for, except for who would get the dining room table. No one in the family had a place for it. Once the U-haul was loaded and there was plenty of space remaining by the pull-down door, there was no way I was going to leave that table. Mom had purchased the unremarkable cherry Queen Anne piece early in their marriage from a secondhand shop, undoubtedly at a low price. It would be impossible to recount the number of friends who had been crammed around that thing to experience Dad’s famous Weber Grill turkey, Beef Bourguignon, fondue, New England clam chowder, Shepherd’s Pie and more over fifty years of frequent entertaining.
Yesterday I knew the time had come to make a decision about how to get the table out of our garage and into a useful place, but really wanted my special memories to be enjoyed by our children. In a wonderfully kind offer, my Master Carpenter brother said he would use the table legs and part of the top to make a long, narrow sofa table for me. Needless to say, I was beyond thrilled. Just after getting his message, I left Farmville for Greenville to initial a document about Mom’s estate and to take her wedding band and Dad’s to get them re-sized, so I could wear them. It was a bit of an emotional drive. Right when I was about to open the door to the financial services company, someone walked out. It was my mom’s hospice social worker whom I had not seen for five months. She had been a Godsend for our family during Mom’s last weeks in our home and we got to catch up.
The timing of that sweet reunion was what I would consider a “God wink.” God winks are special little moments or happenings that make us mindful that God is there and intimately, lovingly involved in our lives. Often, they are not earth-shattering, but sweet gifts that make us quietly say, “Thank you, Lord!” How important it is for us to be aware of God’s presence.
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).” (Matthew 1:22-23) The same gospel ends with its last recorded words of Jesus, in the Great Commission saying, “and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)
“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely, I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm 16:5-8; 11)
celiastone 