On the wall of our front entry, just inside the front door, hangs an old plaque. It’s a small plaque – not more than ten inches in width and perhaps eight inches in height. It’s cracked down the back, but the crack doesn’t extend to the front, so that doesn’t show as it hangs on the wall. The copyright date on the back reads 1939. It’s an antique by now. I’m not sure of what material it’s made. It appears to be molded ceramic. The back label identifies it as “Art-Wood” made in the U.S.A. I doubt it has much monetary value – but it has great sentimental value.
I first saw the plaque when I visited my husband’s home, just before he and I began dating. It hung in the hallway there, as prominently as it does in our hallway. I paused to read it, and instantly loved it. From that day forward, every time I passed the plaque, I thought of it as a precious possession. Over the years, as we returned regularly to visit those wonderful people who became my in-laws, the plaque never moved. A flood ravaged the home during one exceptionally bad hurricane, but the waters stopped below the plaque on the wall. It was taken down while my in-laws cleaned up the damage, but once that was done, the plaque was restored to its spot. It was still there when my father-in-law died, and we visited the home in sorrow. It was still there the last time we visited, the summer before my mother-in-law died. She knew how much I loved it, and gave it to my husband and me. It is now our precious possession.
Why do I love this old-fashioned, antique plaque with little monetary value? Is it only because I loved the in-laws to whom it belonged? That’s part of it. I love it, too, because it gathers into a few, powerful words a reminder of character in the home.
Character in the home could be the title of the plaque, although I like the one it bears. Set off by three-dimensional, dusky red roses, It reads, “Home Blessings”. Then, beneath a burnished gold crown follows this short verse:
- The CROWN of the HOME is GODLINESS
- The BEAUTY of the HOME is ORDER
- The GLORY of the HOME is HOSPITALITY
- The BLESSING of the HOME is CONTENTMENT
Character in the home is built on such qualities as those. What others from the list of character traits could we add? The entire list is wrapped up in the first line, isn’t it? Where there is godliness, there is every entry from the list of Christian character traits. Add to that the beauty of the home. Order is a result of responsibility. Hospitality is our exercise of love for others. Contentment is itself a strong trait of character.
Best of all on this antique plaque are the words at the bottom – words spoken by a man named Joshua – a man who had the courage of his convictions: “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD,” he said.
Character in the home is at its strongest, I believe, when the man of the home makes such a statement, and then lives by it.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?