The Truth Wall
Life is difficult.
We live in a broken world and all of us struggle, at one stage or another, to have an accurate image of ourselves. If we listen closely to culture, it's easy to feel judged, insignificant, unimportant.
And whether or not we understand our own unique purpose, we know we have to counteract the loudest voices telling us (and our kids) that we aren't skinny enough, rich enough, or cool enough. For our family, we want to live with the understanding that we are unconditionally and radically loved by a God who never runs out of grace; who isn’t frustrated by our failures.
The challenge isn’t KNOWING if this love is true, but REMEMBERING it!
HOW do you remember truth?
Crafting!! (Stick with me here.)
For us, it started with a pile of wood laying next to a dumpster.Billy’s a former architect and when he sees interesting planks, he’s likely to find a suitable project for using the wood. (Foam core prompts a similar response, but I digress…)
Billy grabbed these planks and the wood stayed in our garage for weeks while Mr. Georgia Tech Billy thought about what to do. He may have seen a picture of writing on planks (maybe even verses?), but since Billy isn’t on Pinterest, I can’t credit it for where this started.
But start it did! The “how to” ended up being a bit of a family project.
First we culled through and found the truths we wanted to remember. Then we played with fonts, and spacing, and word choice, laying out the options.The kids picked out their favorites. I picked out mine. Soon Billy and the kids were off to Kinkos to blow up the fonts to a large size. (You can use the self-copiers for this). Then they made a second stop at Staples to buy carbon paper so we could trace the printout directly onto the wood. We simply traced the letters onto the wood. For soft wood planks, in addition to leaving a mark, there was also a slight indentation of the letters.
After transferring an outline of the words, we each grabbed a sharpie pen (we had assorted sizes) and filled in the letters. Even the nine and 10-year-old got into the action after being carefully coached on working slowly!
The project continued over several weekends and no one rushed. Instead, we lingered and talked about the truths we were writing. We discussed how we are uniquely made and loved. We chatted about purpose and why sharpies are so awesome (this is true too!). It was a large, meandering project that took more time than anticipated and was probably "sloppier" than some of us would like.
But it was fun and is one of our favorite things.
When it came time to hang the truths, Billy did the math to sort out the precise wall placement. He then made a wood guide so each board would be identically spaced.The result speaks to us every day...And every day I recall what Jesus said…”if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Words of truth and freedom - who wouldn't want to see that?