If I Could Save Time In a Bottle...


Come on into my diningroom. Have a seat, because we still have a bit of leftover dinner.


You see above, our empty table. I took the photograph of it exactly as it sits - a modern day still life. That table was full, just an hour ago. That is a metaphor for what will one day be our whole nest. But for now....ah, for now, there are those few evenings in a week when syncronicity happens, and we are all home for dinner. Such was this evening. I had spent the better part of an afternoon making sausage and lentil soup, with a home made chicken stock as a base. Added to this was some easy to make bread, and a Caesar salad, home made dressing.


::perky little sniff::


EEEEE-yeah. It was a labor of love. Well received.


We ate, and we laughed. Somehow, the conversation landed on each of us remembering as many lines as we could from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. ("Come back, and I will taunt you a second time!" ) Our puppy begged for scraps, and daddy indulged him, as usual. A common, every day sight we were...just a family around the table.


But not-so-common. In coming years, it will be a sight that is not-so-every-day. They say you can't get back a moment, once it passes. But I believe, if you blog it, you can have it back again - just in a different way.


Gentle reader, you might yawn at the picture of our now-empty dinner table. You might wonder at a whole post about something so mundane. Can I tell you? It is imperative that you take some pictures of your own, and journal your ordinary life, because you are significant, and your family is unique in all the earth. If you share your link with me, I will visit. I'll read. Record the moments - it is the only way to get them back, when the day comes that your life is suddenly entirely unfamiliar, and nothing looks the same as it once was, those captured moments, digitally or otherwise frozen in time, will bless you.


This blog is an ecclectic mix of things spiritual and things common. I really do see sermons in stones - that is why my blog can run the gamut from Bible teaching, to thoughts on dinner, to a celebration of married love. I came to believe, early on in my adult life, that all of life is spiritual. There is nothing fragmented about me. I don't put ministry in one box, and having dinner with my family in another. All of it is God's life in me. I do not feel compelled to justify a single blog post with a Bible verse. A blog on dinner, and just dinner, delights the heart of God!


Jehovah Raphah has made me a whole person - He has caused me to understand that washing dishes can be worship, and the inspiration to write about washing dishes as worship is a ministry much to be envied. I feel blessed. My life counts, if I never went to a foreign land, or never strapped on another microphone, or stood behind another music stand or fancy podium to teach with my mouth....because teaching with my life is far more impactful and significant.


I cannot save time in a bottle. But I can save it in a blog. I appreciate each of you who visit me here, more than you know. Thank you for putting up with such an unpredictable writer as I.
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Oh, family of mine! There never does seem to be enough time to do the things I want to do. And, just like the song says, I have looked around enough to know, ya'll are the ones I want to go through time with! If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do, is to spend every day till eternity passes....with each of you: my Tim, and Hannah, Sarah, Josiah, and Isaac.
But wait. Because of Jesus....the time will come when I get to do exactly that!

8 comments:

Donna-Jean Breckenridge said...

Often I fail to leave a comment because I don't know the word for 'happy sigh,' or 'nodding quietly.' You touch my heart with your writing. Thank you.

Sermons in stones.

Sighing peacefully....nodding quietly....

Hannah Nichole Atchley said...

Momma, I found this post cruelly wonderful : ) Cruel because it has me sitting here stifling tears (which may soon turn into a snorting sob if I'm not careful) wonderful because it did touch me that deeply. I do love moments like last night. They're precious to me.

Unknown said...

*sniff* - it's not fair for you to do this to me! :)
I call my favorite people my "five-family". But lately we're a five-family-not-all-in-the-same-place.
sigh... I've filled out surveys lately that ask how many people are living in your house. I want to answer "5", but that would not be true - sad face. So every time I'm "forced" to answer "4" the tears try to escape from behind my eyes.
You are right to treasure every moment, my friend.
With love...

Jamie said...

Sheila,

I just this moment saw this post so, no, it didn't trigger the dream, in case you wondered. How amazing is God?? And are your walls red? I got a terra-cotta impression.

Are you willing to name some of your favorite recipe books or share recipes? I used to know where my kitchen was before I started working at the farm. :) I always love Junior League books. The big national ones.

We will have @30 for Thanksgiving; pray for me! :)

Sheila Atchley said...

Would you like to see a picture of my kitchen floor? The diningroom and kitchen are "one room", no wall between them. My diningroom floor is wood, but then the kitchen floor is a *very* distinct terra cotta...you might say almost a "bright" terra cotta.

The walls are red - the floors....bingo.

Sarah said...

I always loved and admire your posts. Such a great gift you have to be ableto write in such a way that draws a persons attention entirely. I want that gift! I love you mom! thanks for sharing

Sheila Atchley said...

Maria,
Sorry! :-) I wouldn't trade this season of my life/our lives for anything, but change *is* difficult sometimes, isn't it? It is as if, when the kids were all tiny, I never really thought this day would come.

But it did.

Thank you, "Thaywah" (Sarah) for the encouragement. You can write! Keep doing it, keep crafting the craft. I love you, daughter!

Hannah...sorry for making you snort/sob...and at WORK, of all places!

:-)

Unknown said...

I love your table . . . and your family . . . and your penchant for finding the Lord's ideas and His heart in very ordinary things. It is one of the things that makes you . . . well . . . extraordinary!