Profitable Service

See this picture to the left?  This is my china pattern.  Sweet Leilani, by Noritake.  It’s lovely, and I love it.  We registered for it when we were getting married, and our friends and family blessed us greatly.  12 dinner plates, 12 salad plates, 12 bread plates, 12 coffee cups and saucers, an oval serving bowl, a round serving bowl, a gravy bowl, salt and pepper shakers, sugar bowl, creamer, and a large platter.  Oh – and a handful of fruit bowls.

Any guesses where this collection of lovely china is at this moment?  Displayed in a glass cabinet in the hall.  And the cabinet is high enough that we don’t even notice it when we walk by.  I’ve got a couple silver platters in there, too, that my grandmother gave me when we got married.  And some beautiful crystal glasses and bowls. I think the last time we used any of this was when my family was here for Thanksgiving a couple years ago. 

I’ve made a significant decision.  Wherever we end up moving, I’m taking the china and crystal, and we’re using it every day.  Why not?  When we have a beautiful set of dishes available, why shouldn’t we eat our dinner on that rather than on the mismatched other dishes that simply suffice?  I’ll still keep some of the mismatched stuff for microwaving on (I don’t think the china can go in the microwave).  But mealtimes, every one of them, will now be considered important enough to deserve the good stuff.  Because they ARE that important.

Yep – I’m sure we’ll break something.  Oh, well.  At least it will have given us genuine pleasure while we had it.  We all die someday.  God willing, I’ll go in the profitable service of my Lord, and I can wish no less for my china and crystal.