Moments with Meryl
During the Christmas preparations, I decided our bedroom needed transforming from the general dumping ground it had become; in fact, the lounge and kitchen also could do with some reorganizing. Straight after Christmas my "project" would begin, and I informed the rest of the family of my intentions. To my delight, I received three presents at Christmas which had already launched my project.
My first plan was to sell the piano that was rarely played anymore and was only used to hold photographs, ornaments, and anything else needing a place to sit! My idea was to replace it with a second-hand display cabinet. First my plans were thwarted because I injured my foot which I had fractured a year previously. I had to rest for a week, so couldn’t go furniture hunting. When we did go, there were no suitable second-hand display cabinets, so we went to look at new ones. If the price was right, the quality was awful; if the quality was good, the price was awful.
"Okay, God, so you don’t mean us to have a display cabinet. So what else?" I pictured the Alpen Acres and the occasional furniture in Pat’s lounge. "Now, I’d love that–we need to look at some reproduction furniture." The girls at work suggested visiting some antique shops to see if we could find a bargain. Jo and I did this the following Saturday afternoon, but had no success. By now, I was really disappointed. The following week, Jim and I visited two reproduction furniture shops and then drove to another town to visit a furniture gallery. Can you believe it? No success there either!!
I know this all sounds quite amusing, but it really made me look seriously at myself. I saw negative thinking, whining, impatience, wanting my way, and not believing God was in control of even what furniture we had.
"Okay, Meryl, look at all the planning, deciding, shopping around, checking finances, etc. as part of an adventure and a process, not as a chore and inconvenience. Okay? Okay. And do you believe you have the exact money God means you to have? I do. Now, what about buying an old piece of furniture from the auctions and "doing it up"? Yes, that’s a possibility–except we didn’t have a lot of spare time. Well, now, remembering who you are (Christ in Meryl form) what would you really like? Well, there were one or two pieces of furniture I liked in the first reproduction shop we visited.
As a family, we talked about it and decided on an oak bureau, but thought we had to wait ten to twelve weeks for delivery. I decided God’s timing is perfect, so that was fine by me. When we finally went to order it, we were told it would take two to four weeks for delivery!!
The bureau can be polished to the colour needed to blend with the rest of our lounge furniture. It’s of good quality, too, at a price we can afford and can be added to in the future. It was such a relief to remember that God is in control of everything and to know that He works it all out perfectly.
