Such a Gift!!

A couple of years ago, my old hand-me-down coffee table bit the dust.  The loose leg that I had been reattaching fell off once and for all, and there was no choice but to leave it for the trash man. For weeks and months I searched thrift stores looking for just the right table, and then spotted it on Pinterest! An industrial-style table with rough wood boards on a base made with plumbing pipe.  I love this industrial style; just perfect for my old house!!  So, I pinned the table to my "wish list" with the idea that some day I might find a table just like this.   

Pinned table

Lo and behold, last week I received the most incredible gift....a handcrafted coffee table made exactly to spec for my living room.  It was a gift from a friend of my son. He couldn't have known it, but this table is EXACTLY what I had pinned on my wish list!  Up close and personal, it's even better than I could have imagined! Solid and well-made. Custom-crafted just for me. Beautiful!!

My new table!

I spent the weekend admiring it and feeling such gratitude in my heart. It's a joy to walk into my living room....which now looks complete!  My niece and I sat on the floor at the table this weekend coloring pictures for "Grandpa" for Father's Day.  So sweet!!

Sunday I had several hours of think time (aka lawn mowing) and my mind kept considering how to thank this young man for such a precious gift. Maybe I could make a meal for him.  Or buy him some sort of gift to express my appreciation. No matter what idea I come up with, it just seems so inadequate.  How can I ever appropriately say thanks for such a unique and perfect gift?

The American Heritage Dictionary says a gift is "something that is bestowed voluntarily without compensation."  

Funny, it's not necessarily easy to receive a gift...it's rather humbling.  I want to DO something, and yet there's really nothing I can do. It's not unlike the precious free gift of salvation God bestows on those who choose to accept it.  It pleases the Lord to give it lovingly knowing there's nothing we could ever do to earn it.

Gratitude swells in my heart like a balloon, for the sweet and precious blessing of a gift.