Furniture that Says "We're Staying!"

I promised I would tell about how we got a ton of beautiful furniture for free. So here it is.

We've lived in our new place for about two months now.  Being in this new phase of life with a permanent "roommate" in my husband, and the dream come true of owning an apartment in New York,  has made me look back.

I felt drawn to New York when I was 15.  This is me at 15, by the way. 

Me+ Minivan= Awkward

I ended up going to college here which was itself a miracle. Being a student here was fantastic, but I remember a night when I was walking in Madison Square Park, and God spoke to me- he said "let yourself fall in love with this city."  I had held New York so loosely for my years at school, in fear that it would be taken away, but God was saying, "Let go and see what I will do."

Since then, I've written quite a bit here on this blog about the little delights of life in New York, from laundromats to thunderstorms. I've written about the concept of incarnating into a broken city like Jesus incarnated into our broken world.  I started studying this city's history and befriending my neighbors.  I have definitely fallen in love. 

Hm... still awkward 10 years later.

Then I fell in love with Andy and married him.  It's a long story, but Andy and I connected through a network of longtime New York Christians.  These are the people who "set up house" a generation ago for the new wave of urban Christians here, and Andy and I are committed to carrying that forward.  I found a like-minded heart in Andy.

Kind of a big build-up for a story about furniture, I know, but stay with me!

As I was thinking (and praying) about how we would decorate our new apartment,  I kept coming back to the word "permanence." Our apartment could display the permanence of our marriage commitment and our commitment to New York, in a transient city that is skeptical of marriage.

I wrote a journal entry where I expressed that I would like to have real, heavy furniture in our new apartment.  Solid wood, ideally.  Back then I was a bit naive about how much high-quality furniture costs (now I know- yikes!), and I shared my journal entry with Andy one night while we were renovating.

Andy said that just that day he had been offered the contents of a storage unit full of furniture.  It had belonged to a dear friend and mentor of his from work, who passed away five years ago.  This friend had no family, so the company just put all his furniture in storage.  Now, they wanted to throw the contents away, unless we wanted any of it.

We went and checked it out- and what do you know- it was all gorgeous antique solid-wood furniture. We took the dining set, sideboard, china cabinet, secretary, drop-leaf table, side tables, accent chairs and more. All for F-R-E-E. Free.

It is significant that the furniture had this antique look.  Andy makes fun of what a sucker I am for anything old- furniture, movies, vintage clothes, junk.  He's five years older, so there's a self-evident comeback for comments like that!  Not only was the furniture totally up my "old-stuff" alley, but belonged to a person Andy admired so much so it is significant to him too.  Our house looks like we've lived there for 20 years, answering my prayer about permanence.

Do you ever think that God gives you a desire just for the fun of amazing you when he fulfills it? When you walk with him, something as simple as free furniture can bring up layers of meaning, and those layers just show his knowing love.