The Couch

How often do I sing the song, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, ask and ye shall find?" It is one of those little songs that runs through my head a lot of the time. One of those tunes you are likely to hear me singing in the shower. It always has been. I like the tune, the idea and the words.

It is not a bad concept either. In my world I have asked for so many things and they have emerged into my consciousness as a very real manifestation that I am as likely as not to attribute to my hard work, or claim as my right because of where I am at the time. There have been a few things I wanted that I can absolutely not take credit for no matter how much I have tried. These are the ones that teach me the truth.

It doesn't matter how much I have, thoughts flit through my head all the time. Wouldn't it be nice to have this or that? Wow, that is awesome, wish I had one! Whatever it is often just passes on through my thoughts and loses itself in that great want bin in the sky. I don't really need or want most things, they are just fancies. Ideas that are sparked by the great variety of things passing before me on television, or the computer, or in the world around me.

Occasionally though, I do really want something. Not need, mind you. I have everything I need and so much more. I am a rich woman by my own accounting, but for a while I have been wanting a couch. I have a love seat that matched a couch I gave my daughter about twelve years ago. It is structurally a wonderful piece of furniture, just a bit rough in the fabric department now that it is aged and fine. The thing is, it is a love seat, that means two seats and it is also a reclining love seat, so both of them are very defined seats. I would like to be able to stretch out in my living room without having to balance my feet on the opposite arm, or my bones on the bones of the love seat. I cannot afford to buy a new couch, but I have thought about it a quite a lot recently.

Today, I woke up to the sound of my telephone ringing off the wall. It was Bobby. The neighbor's were getting new furniture and wondered if we'd be interested in their old couch and chair? I now have a beautiful new (to me) couch and reclining chair! Comfortable and pretty good looking too. A gift from the universe and the wonderful woman across the street.

And the beautiful part about this couch is that when we went over to look at it, I was able to visit with her and her family in their hundred year old house whose living room is dominated by a huge old fashioned wood burner that they heat with. She proudly showed me her children's high school diplomas and the wall of treasures depicting this momentous event in their lives. Her husband is the first person in his family to ever graduate from high school and now their daughter is heading off to college. The simplicity, the pride, the genuineness of these people is so heart touchingly sweet and good. They work hard, they live frugally and they share their good fortunes with the world. I will never sit on this couch without, at least, a fleeting thought of them and this afternoon.

I am so blessed.