THE WRITING ON THE WALL

Years ago I put a decal on the wall of my family room that said, “Learn, Laugh, Love.” I thought it was a wonderful thought to see every day. My family teased me about it. Did I really need to be reminded to learn, laugh, and love? Doesn’t that just happen? Aren’t those things we all just do?

During this past year, I have watched more home decorating shows than I care to admit. I notice how many times the homes spotlighted have words used as art. Large wooden “EAT” signs hang in kitchens. “WASH” and “DRY” are decaled on the front of washers and dryers, and “EXIT” signs are hung over doors. In some homes, decals, metal art, posters, and paintings of words cover every table, wall, and shelf, turning the home into a maze of self-help reminders.

In full disclosure, as I write this, I am looking straight at my bookshelves where the words, grace, love, and believe, lean against books as if popping out from the pages making sure that I notice them. My “family” sign mingles with smiling faces on my photo wall. A gold glittered Christmas ornament hangs on my office lamp sparkling the word “Joy” into my world. And yes, my word for the year, “HOPE,” is taped to the side of my computer.

I will admit that I am a word person. You see, I believe there are word people and number people. Although numerology interests me and certain numbers catch my heart, I am not good at remembering the year something happened. That doesn’t mean I don’t remember the event. I can describe it to you in detail recreating the image and feeling of an experience by puzzling together words of color, sounds, smells, and textures. For the most part, words are much more interesting to me than numbers.

This popular fascination with decorating our home and lives with words had me thinking about why we do it. Do we need to see a word to be reminded to feel a certain feeling or act in a certain way? Today as I drove through town doing errands, passing buildings and parks, I thought of a new twist to this interest in words. What if when we see something instead of thinking the name of the place or object, we think of a word that will attach meaning to it. For example, we could begin associating the word safety when we see a fire station and silently thank the men and women who are first responders. Can we think of the word, blessing, when we see a church to remind us to be grateful? How about the word, growth, when we see a tree to remind us to reach our full potential? What if drinking a glass of water made us think of the word, hydration- something our bodies need to survive?

This became a game for me that continued throughout the day. The orange I ate for lunch brought to mind the word, health. The sound of a baby crying- life. Rain – replenishing. Friends – support and loyalty. Family equals, love.

Maybe we do need a few prompts in our lives to trigger responses, but wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we trained ourselves to respond with positive thoughts and words to everything we see. If we did, I predict we would all learn, laugh, and love more - without needing the words to be written on our walls.
​
Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Choose the words that guide your life carefully.” Years ago I put a decal on the wall of my family room that said, “Learn, Laugh, Love.” I thought it was a wonderful thought to see every day. My family teased me about it. Did I really need to be reminded to learn, laugh, and love? Doesn’t that just happen? Aren’t those things we all just do?

During this past year, I have watched more home decorating shows than I care to admit. I notice how many times the homes spotlighted have words used as art. Large wooden “EAT” signs hang in kitchens. “WASH” and “DRY” are decaled on the front of washers and dryers, and “EXIT” signs are hung over doors. In some homes, decals, metal art, posters, and paintings of words cover every table, wall, and shelf, turning the home into a maze of self-help reminders.

In full disclosure, as I write this, I am looking straight at my bookshelves where the words, grace, love, and believe, lean against books as if popping out from the pages making sure that I notice them. My “family” sign mingles with smiling faces on my photo wall. A gold glittered Christmas ornament hangs on my office lamp sparkling the word “Joy” into my world. And yes, my word for the year, “HOPE,” is taped to the side of my computer.

I will admit that I am a word person. You see, I believe there are word people and number people. Although numerology interests me and certain numbers catch my heart, I am not good at remembering the year something happened. That doesn’t mean I don’t remember the event. I can describe it to you in detail recreating the image and feeling of an experience by puzzling together words of color, sounds, smells, and textures. For the most part, words are much more interesting to me than numbers.

This popular fascination with decorating our home and lives with words had me thinking about why we do it. Do we need to see a word to be reminded to feel a certain feeling or act in a certain way? Today as I drove through town doing errands, passing buildings and parks, I thought of a new twist to this interest in words. What if when we see something instead of thinking the name of the place or object, we think of a word that will attach meaning to it. For example, we could begin associating the word safety when we see a fire station and silently thank the men and women who are first responders. Can we think of the word, blessing, when we see a church to remind us to be grateful? How about the word, growth, when we see a tree to remind us to reach our full potential? What if drinking a glass of water made us think of the word, hydration- something our bodies need to survive?

This became a game for me that continued throughout the day. The orange I ate for lunch brought to mind the word, health. The sound of a baby crying- life. Rain – replenishing. Friends – support and loyalty. Family equals, love.

Maybe we do need a few prompts in our lives to trigger responses, but wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we trained ourselves to respond with positive thoughts and words to everything we see. If we did, I predict we would all learn, laugh, and love more - without needing the words to be written on our walls.

Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Choose the words that guide your life carefully.” 

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Pennie Heart to Heart
THE WRITING ON THE WALL ​

YOUR TURN...        
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