Philosophy of Rocking Chairs
July 19, 2007
Dear Prayer Team,
The rocking chair in my dining room was born quite a few years ago. It was my favorite childhood reading chair, and it was ancient even then. It needs some general repairs—skin grafts and the like—which I started on longer than a year and a half ago and haven’t touched since. My mother suspects I’ll never get it done. The list of reasons (not excuses) for my delay spans quite a distance and needs no disclosure here, except for one or two items.
The first is that I lack some of the necessary parts—why begin the surgery to remove the inner straw until I have the foam with which to replace it? There’s also a little metal support piece broken off, which I think I put in my blue coat’s pocket a year ago December when we realized it was broken and which may be somewhere else by now. (I hope I put it somewhere logical.) It needs to be welded back onto the bottom framework so that the new fabric (which is fabulous) doesn’t tear and the foam parts fall through when I sit down.
I’m sure one of you will be forward-thinking enough to recommend that I hire someone to do it for me and save myself the obvious hassle. But I want to do it, to learn a new skill, and I will do it someday.
The other delay is more philosophical than practical. Simply stated, I’d rather not work on the chair alone, even though I want to get it done. Re-upholstery, at least in my house, takes teamwork. So I am at a standstill, although I almost worked on it last Sunday.
Remember the fifty-two days it took to re-build Jerusalem’s wall? Everyone around thought they were crazy, that the job was too big for them, but “…the people had a mind to work.” (Nehemiah 4:6) They banded together and got it done. If I both had a mind to finish my chair and banded together with (i.e. drafted) someone else, it would be done in no time.
Last week when I wrote to you, we had over $5.1 million in commitments for Streams of Light. As of today, we have just over $5.3 million in commitments. You must have banded together, living stones that you are, into a unified house of prayer. You have each been a part of making Streams of Light a success. Thank you.
On behalf of Patsy Wagner,
Heidi C. Corder
Development Assistant