Manage It (Victorious in Christ) Monday: What's On Your Walls?

What's on your walls?  Is what you have hanging on the walls of your home or apartment, or wherever you spend your time and live as a family, important?  Does what you hang on the wall make a difference in your family's life?  Though I love to talk about paint colors, and anything related to decorating, that's not what I'm talking about at the moment. I was thinking about Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart,

and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,

and when thou walkest by the way,

and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand,

and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house,

and on thy gates."

It has been my goal for many years to put Scripture on the walls of our home. Also, there are sayings, and images which, for the most part, have been carefully chosen to not only be pleasing to the eyes, but to reinforce what we believe from the Bible and are teaching our children.  I remember the things which were on the walls of our home when I was growing up--I think my children will, too. God tells us throughout Scripture to "remember."  Probably that's because we're such a forgetful people.  I want the words of Scripture to be unconsciously speaking to the hearts and minds of our family all day long and reminding us of truth and Biblical values. Besides being a silent witness to everyone who enters our home, what's on our walls may help us do what is right and strengthen us in our faith in Jesus Christ without our even knowing it.

Besides Scripture, I have photos of family...generations of faithful marriages: great-great-grandparents, grandparents, parents...all after 40, 50, 60 years of marriage. Scripture about being a man of integrity is next to a photo of my husband as a little boy, and a photo at his high school graduation.  There is the wedding photo of my grandparents, who were married happily for 64 years.  The words Faith and Family, as well as many Bible verses are on the walls of our home.

These are some of the verses and sayings you will see in just three rooms of our home:
the Living Room, Family Room and Kitchen/Eating Area:

Exodus 20 (The Ten Commandments)

prominently displayed in a nice frame between the Living Room and Eating Area

"Great strength comes from faith in God."

Zechariah 12:5

above the phone in the kitchen 

A saying:

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

Also above the phone

A plaque we received at our wedding hangs over the sink in the kitchen:

"Home, where each lives for the other and all live for God."

In our eating area:

"Create in me a clean heart, O God;

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence;

and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;

and uphold me with thy free spirit."

Psalm 51:10-12

In our entry hall:

"Love...Love is patient, it is not proud.  It is not rude or self-seeking.  It is not easily angered.

Love does not delight in evil.  It always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres.  Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13

 

 Over the mirror in our entry hall:

"With God all things are possible."

Matthew 19:26

On a print, hanging in our living room, of a painting,

painted by my former brother-in-law, Steve Gjertsen,

depicting Jesus calming the storm

"And he (Jesus) arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."

Mark 4:39

(I love that painting!)

Two verses on one plaque,

in the Living Room on top of the curio cabinet

(it was a gift from a friend)

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace;" (the rest of the verse goes like this: "that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!")

Isaiah 52:7

and

"Go into all the world and preach the Gospel,

serving where God has sent you."

Matthew 28:19

 Hanging over the piano in the Living Room,

"Hope...rejoice in our suffering, suffering produces perseverance, perseverance-character, and character, hope."

Romans 5:3

What do you have on your walls to help you

think on and live for the Lord?