What Would the Walls of Your Home Say About You?

I sit here at my dear friends’ kitchen counter in the wee hours of the morning working on my post for this day. There are two little kitchen lamps dimly shining so mostly darkness surrounds me. Then I look across to the other side of the kitchen and there is the lighted manger scene glowing that I hadn’t noticed before in the daylight. I’m reminded of Emmanuel – God with us. Indeed, He is here in this beautiful home where the welcome mat is always out for me. My dear friends of so many years give me the royal treatment. It was especially meaningful this time as their Christmas decorations are still up. More than the lit Christmas tree and manger scene is the presence and light of Christ who lives in this home.

If these walls here could speak, I know they’d tell you “Love in any language fluently spoken here”! It is evident by the photos of their precious family and their two adorable grandchildren. Both Mick and Sheila beam with joy telling me how 3-year old Benjamin soothes his little 1-year-old sister when she’s crying with “It’ll be okay, Baby Sister!”.

Most importantly is the welcome mat is always out for God and His presence here. Every room in this home has its own personality and its own story to tell -- from Sheila’s mom’s magnificent paintings and artwork to the crosses, spiritual icons, statues, Bibles, devotion books, Christian magazines, scripture photos, and each room is named after a saint. The culture here is the free flow of conversation about the goodness of God and His love for us. No matter where the conversation starts – it will always include a gratitude word or blessing or encouragement in it. We just can’t carry on a conversation without it.

They humored me Saturday night as we watched the Dallas Cowboys game together – well, Mick and I watched the game as Sheila was with us but going through her 40+ years of a tub full of collected holy and scripture cards, sorting them to take to the women in the jail where she and Mick minister every Friday. At half time, we humored ourselves when, quite spontaneously, Mick got us going with Bible charades as he acted out Peter. The “hanging upside down on the cross” gave it away. When I acted out Mary Magdalene washing Jesus feet with her hair and crying, Sheila totally went to the place of remembrance of that meaningful and touching Bible scene and teared up as she said, “Ohhhh, it’s Mary!”

In this home and holding His Bible open, you’ll hear Mick remark, “Listen to this.....” as he quotes scripture and provides us with an enlightening explanation of the words. You’ll see Sheila’s face light up and hear her compassionate heart as she talks about the women who she witnesses to weekly in the jail or about the women that come to her home Bible studies. Truly this home is built on solid rock.

This same day while I was spending time with my 96-year-old Mom-in-love, who, by the way, is doing remarkably well – with just a few aches and pains in her legs, Sheila came over to visit her. It was the sweetest time and Mom beamed like a teenager as she nostalgically told her about how she and dad met and married six weeks later – a marriage that lasted 52 years before dad passed away. If the walls of Mom’s room could speak, they would tell you she is so loved and cared for by her daughter who is her loving and devoted caregiver. Mom’s vibrancy is proof of that loving care. The walls of this room are covered with family photos and scriptures and there's her Bible on her nightstand. It is evident who she is by what surrounds her.

Yesterday I spoke about friends who are for a season and those who are for a lifetime. Add to the list Sheila and Mick who live out the sanctity of marriage, friendship, loving others in word and deed. Their home is proof. Their lives are proof. The evidence is in the many lives that have been affected by their love, support and encouragement. Count me in on that one. Their home is evidence of WHO they are and WHOSE they are. Mom's little room expresses that, too.

What would the walls of your home say about you?

Every Place We Live Can Be Bethlehem

 My post today was inspired by a dear friend and wonderful encourager, Carolyn Cline Boyle. She is radiant, joy-filled and exudes the love of Christ every time I see her. She is also one of my followers on Facebook. Her comments after my post, yesterday, were especially meaningful to me. My post was entitled "Mary, Did You Know?" This was Carolyn's comment to that post:

"Every morning your words bring me back to the meaning of this beautiful season. Life is moving so quickly, the world is so full of conflict and struggle and I need to realign my reason for being, when all this is swirling around. We have a manger scene in almost every room and I am going to take a deep breath and take time at each one with a special prayer each day. I am so blessed to have this world of faith “cocooning” me and I am so blessed to read your words, dear Donna!"

I shared those words with you not to impress you, but to impress upon you what I heard. Carolyn said she was going to take a deep breath at her manger scenes and offer a special prayer. I, too, have many nativity/manger scenes that I strategically place in my living, dining and kitchen area, but I moved them about my home to the bedrooms, office and even my bathrooms after I read her comments. I want my own journey to Bethlehem and the manger to inspire me and my visitors in every room.

When my now 16-year old granddaughter, was about 4 years old, she loved playing with all the characters in my larger nativity set. One day she started to play and baby Jesus was missing. She went into panic mode "Baby Jesus is gone. Where is Baby Jesus?" she cried. We later realized her big brother (age 5 years old at the time) had hidden baby Jesus from her. It was finally a "Silent Night, Holy Night" when Jesus was returned to His manger.

The Christmas Story is much more than a nativity set. It is a picture of how close Christ will come to us. The first stop on His itinerary was Mary's womb. Christ grew in Mary until He came out. And, Jesus gives us the same offer. "If you'll let Me, I'll move into you." He is IN us and I pray He will come out in our speech, in our actions, in our decisions. Then, not just in the manger scenes, but Bethlehem will be in every place we live, and every day we live will be a Christmas when you and I, like Mary, will deliver Christ to our world.

"Christ in YOU, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Let every heart prepare Him room.