TODAY THE WORDS are THE CHAIR. Looking at the pictures, you can see a beautiful chair which has been restored, but you cannot see the story behind it. To me, every time I see it, the story becomes alive in my mind and is a sweet story. I have loved animals since I was a small child and we always had dogs and a few cats (usually one at a time). Our pets became members of the family and were loved tremendously. How does a chair relate to my love of animals? When my husband was in college and I worked to help pay our way, we lived in a mobile home in a nice park. It was small, but we had it nicely decorated. Since I worked full time, I didn’t socialize with the neighbors a lot and I had seen the lady who lived behind us a couple of times and had seen her with her little dachshund Fritz. Even at that time, I didn’t know her name or Fritz’s name; I had only spoken a Hello or Hi to her upon passing. One Friday afternoon, I came home from work and found Fritz at my door steps. I picked him up and walked over to my neighbor’s home and no one answered. I looked and her car was missing. I took Fritz to my place and gave him some water and he looked hungry so off we went to the store to buy some dog food. At this time, we didn’t have a dog. I kept looking out for our neighbor and she didn’t come home all weekend. I would check when I would take Fritz out for his business. Fritz seemed to know he was supposed to stay with me and he didn’t bark; he stayed close to me. Monday came and the office to the park opened and I inquired about my neighbor and only got her name. I had to leave Fritz in the mobile home while I went to work but my husband came home after his college classes and we made it through. I left a note on her door in case she came home and Wednesday afternoon, she came to our door. Her Mother had died and when she got the news with trying to pack quickly, Fritz had gone outside. For some reason, and in the midst of the tragedy, she failed to think about Fritz. She was beside herself and was so guilt ridden but at the funeral, she said a peace came over her and she thought it was odd but she saw my face in her mind. Fritz was fine and her owner and I became friends even with a lot of age difference. Her mobile home was decorated in all antiques but this particular chair was in a shed and she had not had it restored. One day we were walking to her home and I spotted the chair in the shed and all I said was, “That chair is pretty, why don’t you have it restored?” and her reply was, “Would you like to have it?” She said, “I could never repay you for your kindness but maybe you will think of Fritz and me when you look at it. This was in the late 60’s and I tried my hand at restoring it several times and finally took it to Mr. Sears in Douglas and he properly disassembled it and now it is a treasured piece in one of the bedrooms. Even though it is sturdy, I don’t encourage any sitting in it. It is my reminder that kindness is met with kindness.
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Galatians 6:10 ESV
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith
(c) copyright 2014 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
