May 13, 2025

Dear Friends,

It was forty-five years in the making but it’s done. At least, it will be done, later this week, when I assemble the various parts and move it from my garage floor to my house. We have a dining room table and I built it — with a little help from friends and family. Today, I’ll share some reflections regarding this journey.

The table is not what I originally envisioned. It’s a bit smaller and a completely different design. Instead of being made only of maple, it combines maple and birch. Just after we were married, I pictured Sharon and I sitting around the table with the children we hoped God would grant to us and with friends or extended family. Now, we will sit around the table with grown children and grandchildren and friends and extended family.

The table is not as well made as some of you could make it. I’m not a fine craftsman and I don’t pretend to be. But I took the most care that I can ever remember taking on a project. This project measures me but it also depicts me. It is the work of my hands for anyone who wants to see. The difference between the picture in my head and the finished project is significant but I am still pleased because I know the history behind the changes, blemishes and errors. I persevered and found ways to turn problems into workable, functional solutions.

The table encompasses my history. It started as a goal for a young man who had no sense of his incompetency but had vision. I had built three pieces of furniture at that point, with reasonable success, and thought I was ready for “a real challenge,” not having the wisdom to realize that I was in over my head. Fortunately for me, life got in the way of my goal. We moved from a rental house with a full woodworking shop to a series of apartments and finally to the home where we would raise a family over forty years. The original maple for that table followed us around but was never touched because I did’t have the tools or time. Along the way, I built (with much help from a friend) a birch office desk and cabinets. When we sold our home, the birch desk was not part of the future plan but I wasn’t willing to scrap it. That desk, repurposed, is now a significant part of our new home in various pieces, including the table.

Finally, the table is not “the great work” of my life. It’s a table. But those who sit around it are the important pieces of my life — family, friends, people with needs, people meeting our needs. The table represents a journey from youth to old age, from youthful dreams to mature acceptance, from hope to fulfillment. It is the culmination of what I have learned to this point but, Lord willing, it’s not the last project I complete. There is good work yet to do, with projects but especially with people. I was able to complete this table because of the skills I learned, and the experiences I had along the journey of my life to this point. God was and is in all of that.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Blessings!

Doug