One Chair’s Journey - Martin Wiles

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. James 1:17 NLT

Some chairs are good for more than just sitting on.

When I was a young lad, my maternal grandmother—who lived in Vance, South Carolina—purchased a living room suit from a local furniture store. The reason I remember it so well is because she placed it in her formal living room—the front room she called it—and told us not to sit on it. She reserved this for company, which she rarely had. The suit contained a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, and two end tables.

After my grandmother died, Mom and her sister divided the living room suit. Mom took the couch and the chair, and my aunt got the tables. Mom didn’t like all white furniture, so she had it recovered. When Dad retired, he and Mom moved into a smaller home that didn’t have room for the living room suit. Mom passed it along to me.

My wife and I kept my grandmother’s furniture for several years until we moved into a smaller place. We stored the couch and chairs for a time but eventually concluded we’d probably never live in a home large enough for them again. Reluctantly, I decided to sell the couch and matching chair, but kept one chair for sentimental reasons.

The chair now sits in our den and isn’t used as a formal piece of furniture any longer. The grandboys sit on it, and yes, things have been spilled on it, leaving stains we can’t remove. I’m sure if the chair could tell me about its journey, it would share things even I don’t know. One thing remains: it is loved for whom it belonged to. It was a good gift from a loving grandmother and then a mother.

We never know where our life journey will take us. Often, it includes sicknesses, relationship challenges, financial crunches, emotional struggles, death, change, and tough decisions. But James gives us comforting assurances. All the good things in life—and I might add the not-so-good things—ultimately come from a loving God who brings or allows them into our life journey. And this God does not change in His opinion toward us.

God loves us before we’re born, and nothing will alter His love for us. He always works for the good of His children—whether we see it—and He gives us His Spirit permanently to guide us along life’s journey.  

So, remember, wherever your life journey takes you, God remains by your side.

Prayer: Father, thank You for walking beside us and guiding us along our life’s journey.

Tweetable: What have you kept on your life's journey? 

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