Thy Word

As soon as breakfast was over, I decided to try out my table décor for the book festival exhibit next Saturday. We were required to cover a card table with a tablecloth, have a theme for our display and be as creative as possible in luring the book browsers to our table. This had been in the back of my mind all during our trip, and I had picked up some trinkets and a cloth along the way. I had selected things with a heart theme in mind as a complement to my book, “Heartthoughts”.

Heading to the bedroom where we had a table of similar size, I spread everything out and eyed it with a critical eye. Hmm. A few changes here and there and it would probably do, especially since the table I would use that day would be slightly bigger. Still a little doubtful, I joined my husband on the screened porch where he was having his Bible study.

It was beautiful out here in the cool, clear morning air. My irises had not greeted me as I hoped when we came home, having spent their blooms in our absence, but our knock-out roses had blossomed and were brilliant against the white of the house. I picked up my Bible and it fell open to Psalms 45. I began to read and couldn’t help but feel a kinship with the words, and that God was letting me read them right now when I needed them:

“My heart is overflowing with a good theme;” it read. “I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer,” verse 1 concludes. I could probably recite everyone of my compositions by heart, and I always tried to magnify the Lord in them, though I didn’t always succeed as well as I hoped. The whole chapter is likely a description of Christ and the church, but as I read, it spoke to me even further.

“Listen, O daughter,” it says in verse 10, “Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house.” I admit I spend a lot of time longing for those of my own family who live far away, and I spent many poignant years missing my parents and siblings when I lived and raised my family separated from them. But I think it is drawing a contrast between the love of family and the depth of our love for the Lord, for the following verse says, “So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him.”

Even if my table doesn’t win the “Best of Show” award, I hope it will reflect the spirit of the book that agrees with the ultimate goal of verse 17 which says, “I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations, Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.”