Dunca

It was the most fun thing when my sister texted and showed me the exact same baby high chair that she has in her dining room. It was at an estate sale just an hour-and-a-half from me. I texted the seller immediately and asked if it was still available and, if so, how much she needed for it. “Today, It’s 25 percent off, she said. It’s already day two of the sale. That makes it  $52.50.”

 

“I’ll take it,” I texted. “PayPal or Venmo?…When is my deadline for pick-up?

“Saturday at 3 pm.” Her replies were quick.

I had a hundred things (not an exaggeration) that I needed to do last Saturday morning. I was coming down with something and I did not even feel well. Undeterred of course, I made that 3 pm deadline. By the time I got there to get it, she’d already had other offers. But mine was the first offer to include the immediate payment. The chair had a post-it note, right over the rabbit’s right ear that said “Colley”. I was bringing home the worn old wooden high chair that was exactly like my sister’s. It was exactly like the high chair in which I had eaten my Zwieback toast as an infant at my grandmother’s house!…And I was also bringing a wonderful old wooden ladder for my husband that was still in great shape (ladder and husband) and, because it was now day three, it was half-price–just twenty dollars!

 

Five little lessons from the chair:

1. I wanted the same decal. The decal is the cheapest thing about the chair. But it’s the first thing people see and it IS what made me know I wanted the chair. That bunny was the same bunny. Sometimes, smaller things, about people,  tell us that Christianity is the life we want. They represent what the person, really is. The way a person dresses modestly or shows random kindnesses, or applies principles of holiness in her speech can be the decal–the first-look-clincher that makes a person want the “high chair” that is Christianity.
2. When we want to do something–when it is a priority–we can do it, whether or not it’s a convenient time for us to do it.
3. Counting the cost is a real thing. I could have tried to wait for the half price day and see if I could snatch the chair for just $26.25. But, in my case, the chair would not have still been available. I know way too many people who thought they would make things right later in life. They were boldly risking eternity by waiting. They gambled and they lost. The chair would not have mattered, of course. But a heart that waits to obey, likely never will, even if given a hundred years on this earth.
4. There is always room in your life for something that makes you remember security, good times and Zwieback toast. Nobody, but my sweet grandmother, ever even fed me Zwieback toast.
5. There are unexpected blessings that come when you get the main thing. Glenn probably thought the ladder was the smartest purchase of the day (although he was quick, when he saw how much I wanted that chair, to say “You need to go and get that chair.”) If I could make people see the blessings that come all around the periphery of the decision to follow Christ, those people  could not get to the “point of sale” fast enough.
   

   …sitting at the estate sale…