I love words and symbols. Actually, words are symbols, symbols of objects, realities, and abstract ideas. I cannot resist wallpaper with words, fabric with words and symbols, or words molded or carved into sculptures or wood. All the more, then, I love words that have specific meaning to the family that lives in rooms decorated with them.
Over the doorway of our country kitchen there is a carved wooden piece that says “Psalm 100”, because this is the Psalm our kids learned when they were a part of the cast of the children’s musical Kids Under Construction. Other word art pieces hang on the walls of our bedroom and workout room.
The two gateways to our driveway hold wooden signs suspended from chains. One says SHALOM and the other says Willowmere, the name our daughter Amy chose to name our home place when she was in junior high school and reading the Anne of Green Gables books.
When we decided to create a place in our home town for people to visit and experience community, it seemed perfect to cover the walls in the restaurant with scripture about community and unity. Because I had taught French in those years when Bill and I started our life together, we thought it would be fun to put those scriptures in French. Later when we added a smaller room for meetings and small gatherings, an artist friend came to paint scriptures about loving each other in several languages so that everyone from around the world would be greeted in their own native tongue.
Deuteronomy 6:7-8 instructs us to teach the ways of the Lord God to our children and talk about them “when you sit at home and walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them down and tie them on your hands as a sign. Tie them on your forehead to remind you and write them on your doors and gates.”
In the book of fun things for families to do together that Shirley Dobson and I wrote several years ago called Let’s Hide the Word, we thought it would be fun to suggest some theme décor room ideas for children’s bedrooms, playrooms, or family gathering places. Here are a few:
The Garden of Eden enclosed patio
Daniel and the Lion’s Den room for boys
Paul’s Sailing Adventures room
Fruits of the Spirit breakfast nook
A Dorcas room (painted in shades of purple or using purple-toned fabrics)
The Tent-dweller’s room
A Desert hideaway
The Red Sea room
David’s hillside room (with a constellation ceiling and a shepherd theme)
I loved a room I saw that had an artist’s painting of words of a favorite poem by e. e. comings painted around the room at the top of the wall. Another family painted a scripture in their entry hallway.
The power of words and story keep the timeless principles of life “before our eyes” and echoing in our ears as we navigate the uncharted waters of our future. As the old Philip Bliss gospel song says:
Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of Life;
Let me more of their beauty see--wonderful words of Life.
Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of Life.
