How You Can Know Me

You often don’t take note of things you see everyday in your house.  Today I did, and realized that my home, seen by someone who doesn’t know me, gives two impressions of me, depending on where you enter and look.

When you enter the front foyer of my home, to the left is the parlor/front-room, and to the right is a hallway into the more lived-in areas of the home.  Visitors will likely sit in the parlor, and form an impression of me from what they see there. Right now, they still see a Christmas tree (and will likely think: “he’s strange”), and an electronic organ across from the sofa.  Looking into the dining room, they will see the dark wood table, 6 matching chairs, and two elaborate china cabinets in the corners.  The large framed wall pictures would be considered art.  Overall, they might think of me as a well-to-do person, with perhaps expensive tastes.  They would be wrong.

But it is those who enter and turn down the hallway who will begin to see a truer picture of who I am.  Much of the hallway wall hangings and framed words were gifts of friends.  The first framed hanging you would see is this one:

 

 

 

Within the flowered-shaped heart are the words: “Where there is Love in the home, there is Joy in the heart.”  Note that the words Love and Joy are capitalized, indicating they refer to God.  I live alone, and someone reading that saying might initially think that the words imply that there is no joy in my home, for there is no one to love, but the capitalized letters tell the true story.

Next to that hanging is a small plaque with these words:

Footprints in the Sand

Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You,
we would walk side by side through life.

But when I needed you most, I saw only one
set of footprints in the sand.

The Lord responded: “I love you, and I would
never leave you.  During your times of trial and
suffering, when you see only one set of footprints …

It was then that was that I carried you.”

 

There were many dark times in my life when I couldn’t see a way to go, but I got through them.  This saying explains how.  I was never alone, whether I realized it or not.

Directly across the hall from these two hangings is a full-length mirror (which I rarely look at in recent years), but I suddenly realized something about its placement:  The mirror reflects those words across the hall --- unless I stand in the way.  When I am looking at myself in the mirror, focused on myself, I can’t see those other words I have my back to, nor feel their meaning.  It’s just a subtle reminder of how focusing on the self takes our focus away from God and His words.

A bit further down the hall are two small hangings next to one equal to their combined sizes.  The first small one says: “The Road to a Friend’s House is Never Long”.

The second is a cute drawing of a little girl kneeling, surrounded by flowers, and coloring the face of her pet stuffed bunny, and the words: “Friends like you are precious and few”.

The larger hanging there is the framed “Our Lady’s Blessing”, which I once showed on this blog some years ago.  In beautiful script it reads:

Our Lady’s Blessing

May the Light of the Countenance
of my Little Child
ever shine on you.

May the perfection of His actions
be seen in all your works,
that nothing may be found
at the last day
but that for which you may be rewarded.

May His Sacred Heart
be your Refuge
when beset with temptation and
tried by affliction.
May you enter the Divine Heart of Jesus
through the pierced heart
of your Queen and your Mother.

May your last hour be
your best hour and

May the Names of Jesus and Mary
seal your lips till we meet
in Eternity
Amen.

One step further down the hall are two doors, one on either side of you.  One is to the basement (do you want to go down to the mess?) and one is to the garage (this is your last chance to leave).  And then is the entranceway to the kitchen.

To your immediate left is a framed hanging:

Hold on to Jesus

God gives new miracles,
each and every day.
So be patient and
trusting
and faithfully pray.

Just hold on to Jesus
and believe in your heart,
that His grace and mercy
to you He’ll impart

He sees each tear that
you have shed,
so take His hand
down each path
you’re led.

For you were never
meant to make it
on your own.
For when you
hang on to Jesus,
you never are
alone.

Across the hall from that saying, on your right, is a beautiful sparkly cloth hanging, pictures of Joseph and Mary, with the child Jesus between them.  It is magnificent, and placed so you can see it while sitting down at the kitchen table, which I am doing right now.  I talk to them in that picture often.  But before you would leave the entryway and enter the kitchen, your eyes will be drawn to the wall across it.

You can see the backyard through the windows there, perhaps seeing a beautiful sunset, as I am right now.  On one side of the window hangs a crucifix --- there is one in every room of this house --- and below it hangs a cloth picture.  It has two trees with bright pink leaves, a porch, and in the center is a dirt path which leads to a wrought iron gate.  And in the sky are the words from Psalm 16:11,

You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy.

Looking on the other side of the window, you see hanging the Divine Mercy image of Jesus, with the words at its bottom:  Jesus, I Trust in You

And then there is one more thing you will see from the entranceway to the kitchen.  In the ceiling alcove in metal, are these underlined words, printed in a stark iron black color:

Rejoice in the Lord, always

And beneath them there is a wooden plaque sitting at the top of the kitchen window frame:

You will FOREVER be my ALWAYS

I can’t begin to write (through my tears) what all those words of the hallway and kitchen mean to me.  They truly are me, and how I think about, and pray about, all those people who gave me those posters and hangings.  They are my life, and all that is good about it.

They will forever be my always. 

If you know nothing else about me, just read those sayings.