For the past 3 years I've lived in a little townhouse in North Oshawa. This year, I started with renovations. I got the floor done and repainted the mainfloor and the upstairs hallway (when I say "I did this work" I mean that I watched and helped while my dad, brother, and friend David, did the work).

And all this time I have been wondering what to do with the long, empty wall in my livingroom. My couch sits against the wall and there are no windows (because it is one of the walls that seperate me from my neighbours). A piece of art for the wall would have to be pretty big (and therefore pretty expnsive). So my question has been - what to do?

When my best friend and I lived together in this house, we had thoughts about making a collage of photos of us and our favorite places. But we never got our act together, and therefore the wall remained empty.

Then I got an idea. I was listening to Rob Bell preach and he got talking about Masaru Emoto. Emoto is a Japanese scientist who did a number of experiments involving water. He theorized that our words effect the phsyical world. So he took water and put in a couple of glasses. On one glass he wrote "love" and on the other "hate." Then he froze the water and took pictures of the crystals that were formed. The water labelled "love" made these beautiful crystal shapes. The water labelled "hate" made this ugly, blobby mess. Emoto repeated the experiment over and over doing different things to see how the water would 'react.'

Rob Bell said that he believes that Emoto has discovered what Jesus always knew: words matter, words effect people, and our words tell the truth about our hearts.

That got me thinking about the idea that it would be good to surround myself with good words. So I searched the internet and found a site called Word to the Wall. It's a company that makes 'word art' with which people can decorate their walls. I thought about how much I love words, and how I would like my home to feature words that build up, rather than tear down. 

So I decided on the words I wanted: Imagine. Dream. Hope. Inspire. And at the centre:  Love. Because if we can love, and especially if we can let the love of Jesus live in us, we have the ability to do those other 4 things. These words reflect the Kingdom of God to me.

Yesterday, I received my word art in the mail. I spent last night putting it up above my couch. And here is how it looks:

I have to admit, today I've walked past the words a number of times. I catch them out of the corner of my eye, and then I read them. And then I smile. I hope that these words are the imperatives for my life - the commands I follow. I think if they are, I will begin to look more like Jesus. And that is a very good thing.

Blessings,

R.