Many years ago, I wrote a poem titled “Unframed Collage.” It was my first winter in Alaska, and I was alone two weeks out of each month. Homesickness set in; and to combat feelings of isolation and distance, I taped photos of a wide variety of people and happy remembrances on the wall in our spare bedroom. It ended up being about 6′ x 6′, and it got me through that long, hard winter with temperatures to -40ºF and what seemed like endless darkness.
These days, we have a different sort of collage – we call it “our people.” The front of the refrigerator is decorated with prayer cards and photos of the missionaries we support, as well as our Compassion child, Yadira in Ecuador.
Having these faces before us throughout the day helps us to remember to pray for them. Some of them are in very dark places and they tell us they can feel the prayers coming through!
Not everyone wants to “junk up” their refrigerator door, but you might consider creating a collage of those for whom you pray and hanging it on the wall somewhere in your house where it would be seen frequently. Most variety stores carry many styles of already prepared collage frames, or you can create your own.
Whatever you do, please PRAY for “your people.” My husband’s Uncle Jim had a long, long prayer list and he never failed to pray through it daily – while he was doing his morning devotional time, during his daily walk, as he was driving here and there – and I have no doubt that many lives were impacted by his faithful prayer for “his people.”
There may be dark times ahead, but remember the words of Paul to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, 11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.” NASB
UNFRAMED COLLAGE
Unframed collage:
it measures six feet wide and six feet tall –
pictorial testimony to the past –
dear loved ones all.
New friends, old friends,
kith and kin alike displayed – on view
to pass the time and take the edge off
lonesome winter blues.
Places, people,
seasons of the year portrayed bring cheer –
one wall in my South bedroom
filled with images so clear.
A world of comfort rendered
by these simple photographs
displayed – affixed with cellophane –
prescription smiles and laughs –
Just what the doctor ordered
to combat the dark and cold;
an inexpensive antidote,
yet worth its weight in gold –
Unframed collage:
it measures six feet wide and six feet tall –
pictorial testimony to the past –
dear loved ones all.
Unframed Collage is copyrighted and excerpted from Song of the Heart, which is available for purchase on amazon.com. Click on the book picture to go to the purchase page at Amazon.
