A Portrait Gallery In The Hallway

I really don’t know how our upstairs hallway became a portrait gallery.
I did not envision the hallway looking like it does now.
It just happened over time.
It happened because of all the school pictures that were taken through the years.

It has already been determined that I keep a Mom Box for each of my children.
Each year when their school pictures came home, I would display them in a frame.
When the next year’s pictures came home, the previous year’s picture went in the Mom Box.
Whenever I would add their report card, an award, or a special card they made me, I saw it.

I would open the folder and reminisce.
I would be able to see their growth as captured in pictures through the years.
Why not display all these pictures? I remember thinking.
I set out to find a special frame that would enable my idea to be realized.

I had their pictures from preschool until high school graduation.
It warmed my mother’s heart to see them through the years.
I found a frame that had little squares for a wallet size school picture.
The largest square was for their high school graduation picture.

I bought five frames and went to work.
I had little wallet sized pictures for each of them in an envelope inside my Mom Box.
I pulled out one picture from each school year for each child.
From oldest to youngest, I placed them carefully in each frame.

As I went down the line of children, the younger ones did not have as many pictures, yet.
Each year, besides displaying their picture in a frame, a little picture went up in the hallway.
I would see them show their pictures to their friends who asked about the gallery.
How does your Mom have all these pictures? One friend asked.

That little friend had no idea what a mom’s heart is capable of doing.
My Mom saves all our pictures in her Mom Boxes, one of my children answered.
What’s a Mom Box? The friend asked without really wanting an answer.
It’s a special box my Mom keeps for each of us, was their simple reply.

I walk down that hallway many times a day.
I usually pass the special frames without stopping.
However, there are those days when the pictures seem to call to me.
There are those days when my hallway is a walk down memory lane.

I see the year that my children got braces.
I see the year when glasses were first worn.
I see the haircuts that were liked at the time and not liked soon after.
I see the young preschooler become the high school graduate in the blink of an eye.

Underneath the special frame with years worth of pictures, there is a large 11×14 frame.
That large frame held their college graduation picture for a time.
That large frame held a picture that I chose, which captured their personality.
That large frame now holds two wedding pictures for a son and a daughter.

That gallery is very special to me.
The hallway is a memory walk.
My children’s smiling faces greet me as I walk downstairs each morning.
Years of smiles and memories bless my heart.

Now faith is bring sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for…By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:1,2,17-40)

God has put a portrait gallery in His Word.
It is known as the Hall of Fame of Faith.
We, who read Gods Word, can walk past the people who came before us.
Our faith is strengthened as we follow their example.

They were not perfect; they sinned just like us.
However, they were commended for their faith.
Perhaps that is why the Hall of Fame of Faith is so important.
They were imperfect people, just like us, who God used greatly.

I look at the years of lost teeth, braces, and hair cuts my children wish they could forget.
That is what makes my picture gallery so precious.
It is not perfect.
It is real life.

God enshrined real people with imperfections in His Word to encourage us.
Despite, or maybe because of who they were, God used them.
It is the same for us.
The ones that come after us will stand on our shoulders.

A man who was a husband, father of two children and a pastor died a few years ago.
He said it best with words he lived by.
My ceiling is your floor.
Ponder that truth and press on.

To read about the Mom Box click here.