Longing and old furniture

I don't understand it.  What is the ache, the longing I feel when I see old furniture?

This past week I found myself winding through the furniture department of the Salvation Army.  My finger trailed along the arms of various chairs.  Old dresser drawers were pulled open and inspected.  Tables and chairs were transported into the dining room in my imagination.

Then, unexpectedly, my heart began to ache.  I found myself longing for family and for home: husband and children around a big old farm table, house cozy and welcoming, a garden colorful with fresh fruits and vegetables.  I ached for history and connectedness to the past: family traditions passed down, the smell of grandmother's old furniture, stories of ancestors from distant lands.  Then I longed for old things to be made new: old dressers painted in fresh colors, discarded picture frames rescued and re-purposed, Victorian silver platters polished and proudly displayed.

Perhaps this ache is for something yet to come.

In Christ-  We have a family and a home, and one day we will all feast with our King.  We have a glorious history connected to all the faithful saints who have gone before us.  And we have the promise of everything old being remade and renewed.

⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
⁸ it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

⁹ And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”  Rev. 19:7-10