Writings on the Wall

I suggested here that on Mondays, I would give some insight into my trials (and failures) relating to household management.  Funny that I should put that out there, considering how I would not describe myself as having the luxury of time on Mondays.  Just trying to get the kids up and at 'em, finding a missing sock or shoe (Kate Middleton, our black lab, is usually to blame), signing four planners, loading backpacks, water bottles, and lunch boxes--all between big gulps of heavy caffeine--leaves me flagging a bit by 9am. 

As a friend and I have joked, "Mornings at my house are like being shot out of a cannon at 6 am."  Monday mornings feel like this times 100y + z.  (I had to throw in some variables since we had algebra homework frantically being finished before the sun came up today).

But keeping to a blogging resolution, I want to share something practical yet spiritual that I've done in our household.

I put God's holy word on display in our home. 

Not because it gives me warm fuzzies, or goes seamlessly with my décor, but because I believe in the matchless power of the Word. 

I've believed this even as a young, naive kid. Whenever I was scared, I took to sleeping with my Bible because I knew that I knew that I knew that God's Word would protect me.  That it meant something and was powerful beyond anything my young mind could imagine.  That with just a word God spoke creation into being and by wrapping my arms around the Bible's pages, I could lay claim to its beautiful promises of protection, unconditional love, and grace and find rest.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12


In Roman times, a double-edged sword was a serious weapon.  Precise, lethal, not to be messed with.  Powerful in the hands of its user.   When I think of Scripture as arming my children and outfitting me for my life, it makes common sense that I would want it written in my home.



Keeping it simple, I have a flexible spot where any of us can post a verse to share--in this case, a small chalkboard near our dining room table.  The kids like to pitch in their suggestions or commandeer the chalkboard scripture altogether.  Kids and chalk are like peas and carrots, you know.

We also have a family bulletin board where I have been known to post verses, although in this season of our lives, it's blanketed with classroom newsletters, football schedules, birthday invitations, and the most recent edition of The Roberts Family Fiesta (ahem, M's in-house publication).

 

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young,
but set an example for the believers in speech, in life,
in love, in faith, and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

 

In my kids' bedrooms, I've placed a scripture that I feel will be important to them in their life.  It's right up there on the wall, making it the first thing they see in the morning and the last thing they see at night.  It's God's message directly to them, set before their eyes and in their midst daily.

 

 

My source for the vinyl wall art:  The Old Barn Rescue Company on Etsy. 
The owner is a talented calligrapher and was willing to customize any verse I sent her.

 

For a long time, Collin kept a simple piece of white paper taped near his bed with a scripture that I typed up and handed to him during a difficult parenting moment.  He happened to be feeling low about something that had happened (for which he was forgiven ), but he clearly needed words of reassurance.  The sign read, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Matthew 3:17"  He couldn't read those words without smiling.  It stayed up on the wall for almost a year.

 

Practically speaking, one thing I'm not a big fan of is the flip-calendar of scripture.  It's a source of unnecessary Mother Guilt for me.  I look down and thirteen days have gone by without me reading and flipping.  Then, having a tendency to overthink things, I am caught in a small dilemma of whether to read each missed day or to just skip chunks of scripture that could've been a heart message for me that I had missed in my busyness.  Flip calendars equal anxiety for me---that's my little quirk.  One of many, ya'll.

 

My children have taken note of all this, and it seems to be rubbing off.  M recently had her room shift around and found herself with a walk-in closet, where she promptly whipped up some simple scripture decoration of her own. 

 

Above all else, my hope is that these small things happening in our home today will be continued by my children when the time comes for them to establish their own home culture apart from us.   I do pray that my children and grandchildren will be surrounded by God's Word--that it will be spoken over them and set before their eyes-- in the midst of an increasingly anti-Christian world where the truths of scripture have been largely set aside. 

 

And that last phrase, my friends, is a post for another day!