Last week the tribe leaders of the Megaphone Community challenged us to a writing prompt and I thought this one was so fitting – write the story behind a found object you have. I thought for a minute, trying to think about an item in my home that I could write about. And then, it hit me. I should write about how our home decorations tell a story.

That’s just one of my things. I’ve had the opportunity to try and build a home by piecing together decorations that I bought at Kirkland’s, Hobby Lobby, and random boutiques trying to make my apartment in the early years of living on my own look like something that was halfway thought about and decorated.

But, over the years those items have been replaced with new decorations. Decorations that tell a story.

We’ve heard a lot over the years about the concept of “if these walls could talk.” As dramatic as the movie was from 1996, I’m talking more about the stories that found objects could tell. I’m currently obsessed with the HGTV show, Home Town. Where a couple, about my age is working together to remodel homes in their hometown of Laurel, MS. Each time the introduce the buyers to a new home, I find myself hearing over and over again, “this is the _____ house, they lived here 40 years.” 40 years is a lot of life, especially for a family. And to think about updating a home for a new family to come in and build more memories is just sometimes more than I can handle. That chick has some vision.

Mine is no where near that same type of thing, but I look around our home and I see a lot of memories and milestones. When we travel we don’t really collect a lot of things. It is our tradition to buy an ornament on our trips each year or an item that we might need for décor.

A couple years ago we went to Africa and I had in my head a few specific pieces I wanted – a nativity set (I wasn’t leaving the country without one), a bread bowl, something for our shelves in the living room, something for my husband’s office that would be a conversation starter and of course and ornament. I found some treasures but having that filter ahead of time helped us keep our blinders up.

When my grandmother passed away 10 years ago and my grandfather 4 years ago, I selected pieces from their home that I remembered from childhood, but that would also fit in to the décor and rhythm of our home. Growing up, I remember my Papa had this iron fly that sat on his desk and then later the shelves by his front door. For whatever reason, it was one of the things I often played with in his home. My mom offered it to me when they were cleaning out his home and I loved that she knew it was special to me. For a while I used it as a paperweight on my desk and now its on a shelf near our mantle. When I see it, it makes my heart smile.

Some other items in our home that are special to me are –

• A few framed embroidery pieces from my grandmother. We have 2 in our kitchen and then on one on our shelves. The one on our shelves reads, “If your day is hemmed with prayer it is less likely to unravel.” It hung in the hallway almost opposite to the door I walked out of when I visited her. Such a good reminder to start my day the right way.
• Another item I love are 2 railroad nails. They seem so random, but we retrieved them in the woods behind my Papa’s land. Growing up, we would adventure for hours on the back part of his land that adjoins the edge of a railroad out in the woods. That was always the boundary of how far we could go, unless my dad was with us. WE have found cow and horse skulls and wagon wheels since it was an old Wagon trail. Those nails also remind me of the spires I think that were used to hold Jesus on the cross. Pretty cool to look over and see that reminder of redemption and love.
• We also like to collect artwork with stories. We have a painting in our living room that I bought off St. Mark Square in Venice. St. Mark Square is my most favorite place in all the world. The view of the Giglio and the water at sunset is breathtaking. I bought it from a local artist who was sitting right on the water and painting as she sold her pieces. I very carefully protected that canvas as we traveled home and had it framed immediately. I took a picture with the artist while we were there and have it taped to the back of the canvas
• Also, in our hallway is a special piece that I bought around the cathedral in New Orleans. It was a street artist and I was so impressed with his work, especially after he spent time showing it to me and telling me the story behind it. I was in New Orleans 3-4 years after I bought it and he was still selling his art. I introduced myself and asked if he remembered me. He knew immediately who I was. He said, “you are the girl from Arkansas. No one had ever asked me to ship my work.” After I got it home, I realized the “canvas” was a recycled piece of card board. It is mounted in a very pretty homemade frame, but that made it even more special.
• I have a canvas that is painted with Esther’s House on it that I gave to Mr. McKinney as a wedding present. My super talented friend, Kellee Mayfield, aka Delta Moxie, completed the commission for me from a picture I sent her. In lieu of wedding favors for our guests, we gave a gift in their honor to Esther’s House where we support a couple boys in their orphan care program.
• We have a collection of watercolor paintings on the wall in our dining room. There are 6 of them and they each represent a symbol of our story of love. We gathered them after our first anniversary, where the traditional gift is paper. Some were painted by Paige Meredith, one was drawn by Jeanetta Darley and other were gathered after intentional research.
• A couple final pieces that I love are block paintings by my friend Sarah Henry of Redeemed Home Goods. The story behind Sarah’s company is amazing. But we have a painting her brother gave us as a wedding present and then the “praise angel” as I call her. I bought my mother in law one of these for her first Mother’s Day as we were married and thought I needed one too. As cancer survivors, we both have much to be so thankful for and I love that they are conversation starters when people look around.

We love to surround ourselves with pieces that tell a story. Sure, it would be easy to just go to a story and buy the perfect vase, but what fun is that. I’d much rather surround myself with items that represent God’s redeeming grace, His story of healing, the places we have been fortunate enough to visit and markers from our daily journey around the globe.

One item I can see right now from where I’m sitting is a fighter trophy. Its seems as though I was a boxer. But instead, it is something I was given for speaking at a cancer survivors club luncheon. It’s a “fighter” award and my topic that day was “fighting like a girl, means living like a warrior.” Its perfect.

Each of these items serve as an Ebenezer for a moment in time, a moment in our story. If you aren’t familiar with why I use the word Ebenezer and I’m not referring to scrooge, it comes from the Bible. In 1 Samuel after a great victory with only help from the Lord, the people placed a rock and called it “Ebenezer” (1 Samuel 7:12-14), meaning stone of help. The people in the Bible called it Ebenezer to mean, “thus far the Lord has helped us.”

May that be our story too. May the items that fill our home always depict and tell a greater story of God’s great mercy, healing and grace. Thus far he has helped us and we trust Him always to do the same!