Flowers on the table, always.

The flowers on our dining room table never die, and not because I or anyone else in this apartment have a green thumb. Rather, our flowers never die because they were freshly picked from the craft aisle at Dollar Tree, and polyester has a fabulous shelf life.

Fake flowers were never part of our home decor plan. Before we moved in, we envisioned Saturday morning trips to the fresh-market and Sunday evening strolls to the greenhouse to buy a crisp floral centerpiece for the week. Soon after move-in day we collectively realized that time and money are considerable objects in college, and in order to have flowers on the table always they were going to have to be faux.

Now, no one has ever called us out for trimming our dining table with out-of-season artificial flowers nor mentioned the little dust-bees at home among the plastic petals, likely because they have no knowledge of the bright sunflowers that never were and live daisies that are not likely to be. The thing is, when people are encompassed in quality conversations at your table, the quality of your floral centerpiece simply does not matter.

People gather at our table whether they have known us for years or are meeting us for the first time. People sit around our froufrou table and laugh and cry, and celebrate and mourn. People come here to watch a comedic episode of the Office, or to be talked off a ledge. Our apartment is always abuzz with people who we love being here; and in the midst of life's happenings, we start to forget about going to pick fresh, soon to fade flowers and begin to breathe in the aroma of friendships blossoming right in front of us.

Instead of focusing on things like flowers (beautiful and glorious as they are), we desire to hone in on people and share in their current season of life. All of the earth reflects the glory of the Lord, but at the center of His heart's table you find people; we children are His prized floral arrangements.

As our first semester in this apartment fades away I am ever more grateful for the triumphs and shortcomings we have shared in this space, and the fact that there are friendships blossoming, faiths blooming and flowers on the table, always.

{The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. - Isaiah 40:9.}