Wall Words

July 18, 2009 | My Jottings

I like to have meaningful and symbolic things around me. Like anyone else, I love photos of loved ones, candid and formal, thoughtful gifts from friends, and words on the walls that remind me of what’s really important.

The older I get and the more sieve-like my memory becomes, the more I need gentle nudges about what to set my mind and heart on. Left to its default mode, my mind often spins and toils about useless things. I will never get caught up with this paperwork. I wonder if I’ll have to have a knee replaced before I’m sixty? I don’t think I fit in with that group. And so on.

I spend a lot of time in my office, since our line of work requires hours of paperwork each week. I have tried to make my office a pleasant, personal space, and I’m very grateful for how cheery and inviting it is. The walls are painted a pale, turquoisey blue, and the window trim and the wooden ceiling are a creamy white. My desk is white and so is the storage armoire. There are huge windows that let in the filtered sunlight, and I can look out at a good-sized yard with a flower garden planted around the trunk of an old maple tree. The peonies in the garden are in bloom now. Several times a day I see chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, deer, and all manner of birds very close by.

There are many passages in the Bible that encourage us to put words of truth and importance in places where they will be frequently noticed, remembered and meditated on. Recently I put some words up on my office walls. I chose seven words important to me, and sometimes when I’m taking a break from typing I just look up and see them there, speaking reminders to my heart.

These photos were taken in varying shades of very bright or diffused sunlight, with flash and without, so the walls seem like they’re different colors, but they aren’t. 🙂

 

Peace

Nothing means more to me these days than the peace that passes all understanding. I am hoping to learn more about the peace that Christ makes available to me if I will cast all my cares upon Him instead of toiling and spinning about them in my thoughts.

 

Joy

Sometimes joy is elusive if I’m not meditating on the things that are pure, lovely admirable, true, excellent or praiseworthy. I look up from my paperwork Alps and am reminded that Jesus has come to bring me joy.

 

Remember

I will remember the deeds of the LORD ; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. Psalm 77:11.  Sometimes I just need to be still and remember what God has already done for me. Then I am reminded of how faithful He has been, and can rest in how faithful He will be.

 

Thankful

Another one of my default modes is complaining. Even if I don’t always voice my complaints, I tend to look at the glass half empty instead of focusing on the riches of my life. It is not a blessing to a parent or grandparent when a child is whiny or ungrateful. It can’t be a blessing to God when I’m not living gratefully. I need the lens of thankfulness so I can look at my life in truth.

 

Love

I want to cooperate with God so that I become a more gentle and loving person. Being in the presence of people who truly, unselfishly love is life-changing and unforgettable.

 

Family

What can I say about this word? Just looking at the word family makes the tears fall. When I was fourteen years old I almost died, and surely would have if God had not intervened. But He saved me from an early death and gave me many more years of life, and a family. I think of the husband, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren He has given me, and I feel overwhelmed. Thank you for my family, Lord.

 

Jesus

When Mrs. Ruby Greener first taught me about the love of Jesus, I was three years old and in Sunday School at the First Baptist Church of Covina, CA. I believed every word I was taught about His love and power, and still do. For me, there would be no peace, joy, thankfulness, remembrance, family or love…without Jesus.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3.

Peace, Joy, Remember, Thankful, Love, Family, Jesus.

If you were to bind some words around your neck, write them on the door frames of your house and your gates, what would your words be?