In That Order… by JoAnn

One of my favorite items in my home is a simple piece of artwork that I bought at a bargain when I first moved into my apartment. Framed in a shadow box are the words “Love, Family, Home.” Each word is written in cursive by using one piece of thick wire. I was intrigued at how someone could bend wire to write in such a manner. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. It was one of the first things I purchased to decorate my apartment. It will be six years ago in November that I moved here. My first home ever in which I am living alone. The shadowbox has held a special place on my wall ever since.

As I admired that shadowbox today, I realized that the words are placed in that order for a reason. LOVE: In Corinthians 13:13, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three: but the greatest of these is love. All throughout the Holy Bible, we are taught that the greatest gift we have received is the love of Christ. If we remember this and put love first in everything we do, we cannot fail. That is my belief.

That special love, put into our family and home, is the key to happiness. If only we could keep our eyes on that prize when times are tough. How easy it is to forget that love can truly conquer all when we are in the heat of the moment. Our humanness takes over in the battle, and sometimes, love is the last thing on our minds. That’s when the enemy comes in, roaring like a lion, waiting to kill, steal, and destroy all in his path.

My artwork is pretty, and it looks good with the other decor in my living room. But its message is the most important of any other I could have displayed. These are just three words with so much depth in their meanings. Love is a short word, yet it means more than any other word in the entire world. So many problems could be solved if only love were added to the equation. Sounds simple. Could life change so dramatically with something as simple as one little word? I would certainly enjoy seeing it tested.