Fine China or plastic plate?

I still remember when my  daughters broke my 'good plates'. First Jerri-Mae broke my coveted blue-heart sponge painted bowls in one fell-swoop, shortly after,  Tee broke the entire stack of matching dinner plates. Years later, Jilli broke the 'new' plates, fresh from the dishwasher; I swear those things jumped right out of her hands! So between our three girls, our dinner plates were at a minimum.

In 2009, we were having several folks in for Thanksgiving dinner and I swear, it was the Wednesday before when I realized that we didn't have enough plates.  I called John at the golf course in panic mode and asked him to pick up some white plates - just plates. He didn't question me and came home with plain white plates...straight from the Dollar Tree! And let me tell you, I was one happy momma.

Years later, we still eat supper off those Dollar Tree plates, even though they are warped from the dishwasher and microwave with a chip or two around the edges. And every time we pull them from the cupboard, John and I laugh at our taco-shaped plates.  I guess I should be embarrassed to serve guests off them but I'm not. The way I see it, the most important people in my world dine off these plates day-in-and-day-out, so if they are good enough for them...?

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Recently, our youngest daughter tagged me in on Facebook post, a song about momma's table. And it made me cry. It was an honest reflection of our home's family table.  And for some reason, I thought of our  plates...surely our family table deserves to be set in style, gussied up to look as beautiful as those gathered around it...but then the Holy Spirit...you gotta love His practical way of reminding us what is important!

He reminded me that those old plates resemble each of us: chipped but not broken, a little warped but unique, not perfect but, by God's grace, able to be washed up white as snow, called to serve a specific, practical, purpose. We can be beautiful to look at but untouchable (where is the practicality in that?);  or we can be exactly who God (and life) formed us to be: a little different, a little unique, but willing to serve and invite others to dine with us in the Kingdom.

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As I am writing this post, I smile as I hear my three grandchildren playing on the front porch, they just ate lunch on colorful plastic plates right from Walmart...and they couldn't be happier. They are happy and content, bellies full of left over spaghetti, but their happiness didn't come from what they ate or what they ate it from...their happiness comes from knowing that they were served with love.

If God has called you out to serve Him, don't wait to get the best of what you think you need - He will use you just as you are - you only need to serve with love.  No matter how hard we try to fool Him with a perfect presentation...He sees beyond the exterior and looks directly into the heart. Only you can determine if and how you want to serve Him...but I know that He will equip you to get the job done...no matter if you look more like a simple plastic plate or the best of fine China.

"Ephesians 2:10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."