The Joy Challenge: Day 26 - The Chair

I'm deliberately finding joy for forty days. To start from day one, click here.

 

The chair once sat in the living room of my grandparents. It's covered in the fabric above, shaped like a horseshoe, low to the ground, with three stout legs. As children, my brother and I took turns spinning in it until we tumbled, dizzy, to the ground.

The chair quietly disappeared and I didn't think much of it until the last time I visited my grandfather. And there, in the garage, it sat. I asked about it and learned he planned to put it in a garage sale.

I protested and my parents hauled it all the way from Texas to my home the next time they came to see me (my grandpa still says I owe him $40 with a twinkle in his eyes).

Now it sits in the corner of our bedroom. It's the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning. I look at it and I think of childhood, family, the places my heart calls home no matter where I am.  

My Grandpa says the chair is from the sixties or so and that he and my grandma bought it from a couple at their church. It's seen a lot of life, that chair.

Lately I've been curling up in it for a few moments before I go to work. I pray, quietly, and run my fingers along the fabric.

I think about how everything feels so urgent to us. And then I think about how time smooths things out and living faithfully in little ways adds up to a lot when it's all said and done.

Sometimes I close my eyes and feel the arms of the chair around me. Words of those who have sat there too run through my mind. I remember again there is time—enough for living, loving, fulfilling God's purposes.

Then peace settles somewhere deep inside, joy calls my name and I'm ready to face the day...ready to stand.  

 

Would you like to join me in the Joy challenge? Today just share a place where you feel joy. I'm have random giveaways for people who comment or subscribe during the forty days I write about joy. And you never know when it could be you...  

Comments

[Larie]

Joy is found here in blogland. I appreciate the women I've met who openly share their lives. I am encouraged here. I feel like I belong. I feel understood.

I feel joyfull.

smooches,
Larie

[amy]

I feel joy sitting at the dinner table with my family...
I feel joy on the sofa watching iCarly on disney Channgel with my kids..
I feel joy when I am snuggled up in the chair next to the fireplace where I have my quiet time each day.
I feel joy sitting in church, holding hands with my husband.

[allison]

i like that you said unhurried, sometimes i want to rush on to the next "thing" and lose the moment of now. it is so hard to sit still.

[~Grace & Peace]

My bed - especially with newly washed sheets. I used to have a separate place to read my bible every morning but that room needs to be cleaned. (I better stop before my joy leaves.)

[Linda]

I find moments of joy sitting on my parent's deck enjoying their porch swing while being surrounded by roses and enjoy the prairie beauty of the Kansas plains. Take me back about 20-30 years and it would have been on the porch swing at my grandparent's home, enjoying the eastern hills with grandma's morning glories right behind me. BTW, Heather Solum gets some credit that my parents built their deck. She and Roy and co-authored a book some years ago which peaked my mother's interest to have a deck for our family to enjoy. We love it.

[Tabea]

I feel joy when I'm walking through nature and suddenly feel, that the One who made all of this surely has all the love and power it takes to watch over me.

[deb @ talk at the table]

This made me sad in a way, I don't really have a thing for old stuff. I wonder how much of our childhood is reflected in how we see things "antique" or well worn as an adult. I pray that my children will attach a warm sense of joy and peace to some of the things we treasure now. The hope of that brings me joy.

[C.C.]

Day 27 for me... http://his-heart.blogspot.com/2009/09/joy-challenge-day-27.html

I find joy in the things passed down to me from my grandmother. I find joy in looking at her picture and remembering all the joyful times we shared together.

[Rachel]

Oh how I love the "old" things that bring me joy. I have the chair my dad made for his father while in high school shop back in 1919. To see all the love that went into that Morris Chair brings back sweet memories. Thanks for the joy-filled journey Holley.

[Nancy]

when I cleaned my moms apartment we took some momentos to her new room and I brought several things to my house but the greatest joy was watching the greatgrandchildrens eyes as they picked out things to take home with them.

[Cindy Fox]

Hi, Holley! Praise God for you!

I have in anticipation of one day getting a table my dad made, into which I can place our ocean treasures!
We enjoyed many vacations at the beach - my whole family - pre-marriage, and my husband and daughters and me with my mother a few years in a row. Both of my parents are deceased now and I find joy in good memories. Thank you for helping me remember.

[Connie]

Today I found joy in my bible study group, after a long, rather rough day. It is so nice to have found a group of young women who come together to pray and learn from each other - they make me laugh, too, which helps me remember to put things in perspective!

[Connie]

Hi Holley My favorite place I find JOY is my Church being in Church is so wonderful it is the place where I find PEACE,REJOICING,QUIETNESS,SERENTITY AND TRANQUALITY,AND I KNOW THAT GOD IS ALWAYS IN OUR MIDST EVERYWHERE LISTENING TO OUR PRAYERS AND ANSWERING OUR PRAYERS. GOD BLESS YOU HOLLY AND YOUR FAMILIES AND EVERYONE AT DAYSPRING.COM

[Yolanda]

I find joy in my family. Tonight we three went for a walk and we paused to say good night to the day. My husband held our baby girl, I leaned in to hug her, and my hubby wrapped his other arm around me. I closed my eyes and thanked Him for that sweet, sweet joyful moment. That's my joy right there.

[Maria Jones-Davidson]

Holley, We have a very old dining table and chairs, a wall cabinet and Victorian reproduction of so many years ago. My Australian family all gathered around this antique like table and many memories, beautiful and sad run through my mind...I inherited these family heirloom after my kids' grandparents died many years ago. They hold a lot of good & lovely & sad memories as well. Anyway I continue to see joy to this day in my family and in my life because I have the Lord that I serve and I thoroughly enjoy the friendship and fellowship of members of my family and my husband. They all bring great joy to me! God bless them all!

[Katie]

Yesterday joy for me was continuing to cut brush off of our fence line in the back yard. We then started our first bonfire of the year and cleaned up after ourselves. It was wonderful to enjoy the first taste of fall doing what we love to do together as a family.

[game]

I feel joy when i play computer games specially GTA vice sity and left for dead.
I feel joy when i play my favourite sport cricket.
I feel joy when watch football matches.
I feel joy when i travelling.