living room

by

Pictures Are Needed For More Than Reminiscing

We spent some time today looking at old pictures, but the purpose was not to reminisce. …Mind you, you can’t look at old pictures without remembering back to the day or time the pictures were taken. 

pictures are needed for more than reminiscing

Many of the pictures we looked at had family in them and we were taken back to the days when we were younger and our kids were little.

In looking at all those photos, I did realize one thing: I don’t take a very good picture. I’m not talking about my ability to snap the perfect shot, I’m referring to how I look in the images. 

Though I looked younger and thinner, I still was able to come up with a goofy look for the photographer to capture. 

… Either that or the photographer was trying to get an odd look from me. Most of the pictures were taken by Lily so maybe she’s the reason I didn’t appear very photogenic. 

Though we couldn’t help commenting on the pictures, we were really looking at the photos to come up with something to put on our living room wall. 

Some people display family pictures prominently in their homes, but this wall needs something very sizeable on it, like five feet wide. … I don’t really want such a large picture of my family in that spot. 

We looked at sunset pictures we’ve taken – we have millions of them – but they didn’t seem to be right. 

We looked online at canvas art that we could purchase. But it’s hard to find one that suits us. 

Then I realized that in the thirty-six years we’ve been married, we’ve never picked a large picture to hang in our living room. We’ve had some given to us that we put up, but we have never gone out and looked for a picture or art to place on our living room walls. 

Lily has done some art in the past, but this is not something that she feels confident about or has the time for. 

Our son, Mike, when he was about three years old, had an artistic streak that lasted about one day. He was using poster paint at the time and produced twenty-seven paintings in the span of about an hour. Lily had to stop him when she ran out of places to set them to dry. 

… Even if we still had them, I don’t think any of them would work. 

So we are stumped. We have a large feature wall in our living room that is screaming at us to put something beautiful on it. But we have no idea what that would be.

Should it be an actual picture that we like, a painting, something realistic or abstract? We don’t know. 

We certainly have not seen anything that has wowed us yet. 

And we are not in the market to spend lots of money on an original art piece. 

I just hope we find something before Lily decides to paint that wall again and we have to look for a completely different colour scheme.

Here’s the thing: There are times when we realize we need something in our life. We are sure of it, but we don’t know what it is and can’t really put our finger on it. We make half-hearted attempts to find out what it might be. Let me encourage you to seek God. If you need something in your life, He will be the one who can supply it for you. Don’t look in different directions; start first with God and ask Him what He thinks you need. He knows you best.

That Life!

Paul

Question: What is something you can’t figure out right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to my blog and receive posts like this one delivered to your email inbox twice weekly. 

by

Our New Living Room Furniture Looks Odd

The other day we got a new living room couch and chair. My wife has been wanting these for some time. She has taken me to the store, showed me the design she likes, and the colour that fits the image in her head of what she wants our living room to look like.

Grass-Sofa

Since the time she first wanted to replace the furniture in our front room, there have been many other things that have taken precedence. So, even though it’s been in the works for a long time, it just hasn’t materialized.

We have had to replace vehicles, put a new roof on our house, bought a trailer … you know, all good things that, for one reason or other, we needed ahead of new living room furniture.

Our present couch is as old as our marriage – that would be 28 years this summer. I refuse to lie on it because, for many years, I would come home from work or Sunday service and fall asleep on that couch. When I woke up, I never felt rested. It was like the couch sucked the life out of me.

In the last few years, we have taken a few measures to firm up the coach … because a couch can only hold up so many rear ends before it starts to sag itself!

The other day, the store called and told Lily it had arrived. I was pretty excited to see it and told her that I would go in to make the final payment on it so we could get it home as soon as possible.

As soon as I had cleared up my work for the day, I drove as quickly as possible down to the store. I told the salesperson that I was anxious to see my new living room couch and chair. She looked at me like she didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. So I explained.

When Lily called me to tell me the living room furniture was in, she was referring to the new bike I had ordered that, once again, was taking precedence over the real furniture she has been patiently dreaming about for so long.

For the price of my new bike, she could have had her couch and chair. The salesperson chuckled and said, “Well technically, you can sit on it.” That’s true, but it only fits one person at a time. And frankly, Lily doesn’t really care if she ever gets a chance to sit on my bike.

Though outfitting our home with a new couch and chair would have been really nice, I had just broken the frame on my bike and, therefore, needed a new one just to keep up my exercising, let alone my enjoyment.

So when I got home with my new bike, all smiley-like, she looked at it, and grinned because she new I was happy. But behind that grin, I knew she was thinking that that could have been her couch and chair.

Maybe next year we can finally fulfill that dream of hers.

Here’s the thing: What we really want can get re-prioritized by others things and by other people. God wants first place in our hearts, but so often we push Him to the side because something else has taken precedence. The only way God will be first in your heart is if you purposely, and ruthlessly put Him there. Then protect His place from everything and everyone else.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you wanted that other things have taken precedence over? Leave your comment below.