Many of our mundane moments go unnoticed, but we should pause to appreciate them occasionally because they will soon come to an end. I am sure this will sound strange to some of you, but I take pleasure in pulling out a chair and sitting next to a table or desk. The simpler, the better.
We own an antique secretary’s desk we picked up at a yard sale for next to nothing. Someone built it either in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I like to pull up a chair and write there, usually with pen and paper. Occasionally, as I write, I wonder who else sat at this desk and what else had been written on this old wooden surface long before computers and mobile phones.
Did someone sit here and write a letter to a loved one who was away at war with a heart full of concern? Did tears fall on this surface while a couple tried to figure out how to pay bills larger than their income during the Depression? Was it used to write wedding invitations, baby announcements, or tell loved ones about a cancer diagnosis?
Those joyful and heart-wrenching moments would have certainly overshadowed the fact that they were sitting in a chair next to a simple writing desk, but those life moments would not have been the same without these everyday furnishings. Pausing to recognize the unremarkable should help remind us that even when we do routine things, we are still privileged to participate in the long history of human life.
Many of us get up in the morning, pour a cup of coffee or orange juice, pull out a chair, and sit down at a simple table for breakfast. We do homework, we pay bills, we write emails, we laugh, and we hurt. As in the years long past, we are doing the same things today. Sure, we have different technology, but we are still people being people. And we still sit at tables.
As I sit at this desk and write this unusual entry, I wonder, after I am gone, if anyone will ever know what ordinary life moments took place here. Will they know what a joy and privilege they were? Will they recognize how fleeting it all is and that many of our pursuits cause us to miss the ordinary moments of life? These moments are rarely remembered, but they fill most of our days and make us who we are.
The next time you pull out a chair to have a meal, do some work, or read your Bible, thank the Lord for such sweet, simple moments. We only have so many of them. Do not let the complicated nature of life cause you to miss the fact that some of life’s most simple pleasures are often profound. There will be a day for all of us soon when these moments will end. Thank God for the joy of the ordinary.
-D. Eaton
The Fight of Faith 