Walls of Wisdom

This post is to respond to a recent request from a fellow blogging friend, Lady Rose, to see the quotes and Bible verses displayed in my guest powder room.

The space is rather large for a powder room, but when we built our home 14 years ago we decided to cut way back on a hallway closet and expand the bathroom floor space in order to accommodate my brother, Derek's, wheelchair. We were happy to have the opportunity to help him in this small way.

Long ago, I thought an angel motif might be nice for this little room. This print is actually fairly large (about 3' x 2.5') and the dried flower arrangement on top is over 20 years old. Rachel had fun taking a blow dryer to it a few months ago. The accumulation of dust and cob webs were just a little bit much. You know me...I hate dusting. Anyway, give me a break. Unless you looked-up in there, you really didn't notice!

Just in case you're curious about the walls, they were first painted with flat paint and then sponged with the same exact color of paint except in high gloss. It creates a beautiful pattern. This was the first room I painted shortly after we moved into our home. Caleb was about six months old at the time. I distinctly remember enjoying that little bit of creative time all to myself!



These frames contain various quotes and are directly across from the throne. Please keep in mind that I made all of these using a regular ink jet printer, scrapbooking adhesive, and inexpensive frames I purchased at Marshall's. The exceptions are the stone plaque and the little frame with the oval mat (this contains the Corrie Ten Boom quote). Starting at the lower left frame and moving up and over to the right, this is what they say:



Keep moving forward... Walt Disney

This certainly applies to Christian living, my friends.

~Unsaid~

If all that we say in a single day,
With never a word left out,
Were painted each night in clear black and white,
It would prove queer reading, no doubt.

And then just suppose 'ere our eyes would close,
We must read the whole record through,
Then wouldn't we sigh, and wouldn't we try,
A good deal less talking to do.

And I more than half think that many a kink
Would be smoother in life's tangled thread,
If half that we say in a single day
Were forever left unsaid.

Author Unknown

Our pastor, Alistair Begg, quoted this during a sermon. It had no title, however, I decided to give it one (i.e., Unsaid) because I thought it would look better in the frame.

Love of God

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure--
The saints' and angels' song.

Frederick M. Lehman, 1917

These words are part of a much loved hymn from days of old. It was the second frame I created and hung upon the wall. The first was the quote below by Corrie Ten Boom.

Every experience God gives us,
every person he puts in our lives,
is the perfect preparation for the future
that only He can see.

Corrie Ten Boom

The last frame contains the May 3 devotional (morning) from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. This devotional just happens to fall on my birthday and so the words have been a solemn reminder to me.

IN THE WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TRIBULATION.
JOHN 16:33

Are you asking why this should be, believer? Look upward to your heavenly Father, and behold Him pure and holy. Do you know that you are one day to be like Him? Will you easily be conformed to His image? Will you not require much refining in the furnace of affliction to purify you? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of your corruptions and make you perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect? Next, Christian, turn your eye downward. Do you know what foes you have beneath your feet? You were once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects. Do you think that Satan will leave you alone? No, he will always be at you, for he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”¹ Expect trouble, then, Christian, when you look beneath you. Then look around you. Where are you? You are in enemy country, a stranger and an alien. The world is not your friend. If it is, then you are not God’s friend, for whoever is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be certain that you will find enemies everywhere. When you sleep, remember that you are resting on the battlefield; when you travel, suspect an ambush in every hedge. As mosquitoes are said to bite strangers more than natives, so the trials of earth will be sharpest to you. Lastly, look within you, into your own heart, and observe what is there. Sin and self are still within. If you had no devil to tempt you, no enemies to fight you, and no world to ensnare you, you would still find in yourself enough evil to be a sore trial to you, for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.”² Expect trouble then, but do not despair on account of it, for God is with you to help and to strengthen you. He has said, “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”³

¹1 Peter 5:8 ²Jeremiah 17:9 ³Psalm 50:15

The three frames below are on the wall next to the door, beside the pedestal sink. Starting at the top left and moving right and then down, here's what they say:



If we work on marble, it will perish; if on brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and imbue them with principles, with the just fear of God and the love of our fellowmen, we engrave on those tablets something that will brighten to all eternity. Daniel Webster 1852


These commandments that I give you today are to be on 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 6:6-9

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

And lastly, over the throne, a quote from Lord of the Rings:



I can't do this Sam.

I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo…the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding onto something.

What are we holding onto Sam?

That there's some good in this world,
Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

The Lord of the Rings
The Two Towers

And so, there you have it. Walls of wisdom in a little powder room. I sometimes forget about the walls being covered with so many words and would wonder why some guests hung out in there for so long. Then I would remember...they're reading the walls!