Thankful at home

Three years ago, I proudly shared with y'all my new living room. Some of you may remember:

With advice from Darlene Weir of Fieldstone Hill Design, I had worked on the room for months, and I was so happy with the way it had turned out. But one part of the room wasn't finished.

Although I'd searched diligently, I had not been able to find art for the one solid wall in this room.

Years ago, this wall housed my collection of crosses.

That wall had become a bit too busy, though, so I decided that I wanted to go with something much simpler when I redecorated this room.

And that was it. I knew I wanted something simpler, but what? Darlene suggested botanical prints and found some lovely botanicals that I could download for free, but those weren't quite what I wanted.

So I finally went ahead and posted those photos of nearly-complete room, certain that I'd find just the right artwork soon.

That was three years ago.

All this time, the wall in my living room has been completely empty except for the mirror. And do you know what?

I'm thankful for that.

I'm grateful that I didn't get what I wanted when I wanted it. The truth is, my soul needed this time of waiting, of not having just what I wanted when I wanted it.

Turns out that I needed to wait for a lot of things--and the waiting hasn't killed me. In fact, doing without something I want is really good for me.

I didn't rush to fill the blank space with any old thing just so it would be filled. I simply waited and tried to look at the empty space as a gift, knowing that some day it would be filled with something beautiful--or not. And if it was never filled, that would be okay.

This year, when I visited a charming art gallery in Northern Michigan, my eye fell upon some lovely antique botanicals from England. They were hand-colored in 1825 and had been perfectly preserved. My heart caught in my throat as I counted them. . . 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8! They were reasonably priced, and because I bought all eight, the gallery owner reduced the price by another 10%. The manager of my local Frame Warehouse worked with me so that I could have them framed just the way I wanted, including museum glass. (I have no affiliation with Frame Warehouse, but their service and prices were fantastic.)

And here's my living room today:

At Darlene's suggestion, I disregarded the first couple of feet of wall space on the back wall of the room, centering the furniture and artwork with the seating area rather than with the whole room.

The colors in the prints are delicate but vibrant.

My photography skills can't do them justice, but here's a closer look at one:

So now I'm thankful for this lovely addition to my home, but I'm even more thankful for the lessons I learned during the time of waiting.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

I'm joining some blogging friends to celebrate lots of ways we're thankful at home. How about you? What are you thankful for these days?

Joining Thoughts of Home on Thursday