Today’s post is a guest blog by Lily Silcock, my wife.  Lily is a home maker and virtual executive assistant for an international company.  Lily is the mother of two grown children and has been married to Paul for 28 years.

After being patient for what felt like forever, I finally have new living room furniture. Why did I want new furniture, you ask? I liked our old couch; it’s just that it was almost 29 years old … and pink! … well, “dusty rose” to be exact.  It was very “in” in 1985.

But dusty rose/pink has not been “in” for quite some time now. I’ve just swallowed my pride and lived with it because there was always something more urgent to spend the money on. And the couch was still in pretty good shape.

But all good couches eventually die. For the last number of years, when anyone over about 170 lbs sat on it, they looked like they were eating their knees! Apparently, there’s a shelf life for couch springs.

The ironic thing is, after sounding like a broken record for years now, saying I wanted new furniture, I found it hard to part with my old pink couch. Its springs were gone; it was not good for my back, but for some reason, I didn’t want to let it go.

Paul and I got the couch when we were first married. I can still remember the day it was delivered to our little apartment. I was so excited until the movers said it wouldn’t fit up the staircase of our building. In the end, it had to be hoisted up over the balcony of our third floor walk-up.

It was worth it. We spent many hours on that couch, talking, reading, dreaming … and Paul napping. He’s always maintained that it had some power to suck the life right out of him. I believe it. He couldn’t lie on it without falling asleep in about thirty seconds. But then again, if Paul gets even semi-horizontal anywhere, he’ll be asleep in about thirty seconds.

In each house we’ve lived, that pink couch has been front and centre in the living room.  It’s been part of every Christmas and birthday and special event our family has celebrated.

As a matter of fact, every year on our kids’ birthdays, after the presents were opened, we took a picture of them sitting on that couch with their gifts beside them. The couch was like a measuring stick, showing how they had grown bigger each year.

That pink couch was familiar and I was used to it. I can still picture Karlie as a toddler trying to climb up on it. I can see Mike and Karlie putting on puppet shows from behind it. I remember both kids curled up with Paul on that couch as he read them Franklin the turtle story books.

There were nerf gun wars that began from that couch, sock wars, and tickle fights. That couch absorbed both the laughter of hilarious events retold, and the tears of hearts hurt and healed. A lot of life took place around that couch.

I’ll admit it, it was hard to let it go. Even though it was no longer good, and even a bit of an eye-sore, I was kind of emotionally attached to it.

Here’s the thing:  Just like our old couch, we can get attached to attitudes, thought patterns, and behaviours that aren’t good for us. They’ve just become familiar and comfortable and so we hang on to them. Give them over to God and let them go. He has something much better for you that He’s waiting to deliver. You won’t regret it. I LOVE our new furniture … why did I put up with that old couch for so long?

Take care,

Lily Silcock

Question: What is something that has been hard for you to let go of?  Leave your comment below.