This is our praying corner. It's actually just a tall drawer counter top located on the corner of our living room, but we think it will suffice. The polished high-gloss drawer is of Vinotti brand, which is not the most expensive brand out there, but definitely the most 'glam' furniture in our house, which mostly consisted of mix-and-match of different furnitures from various brands. In other words, any frugal finds that we managed to secure for the home!
Some family dedicated a spesific corner or even an entire room for the praying nook. We picked this corner for some reasons.
The first one is practicality. Basically it's the only place where we could build one without any renovation. While having a special place for family worship would be amazing, the main point is to HAVE a praying corner without procrastination of saving the money to build one, not to mention the renovation time, etc. It's not a Pinterest project for us, and what we have now already served its purpose. There is room for improvement, of course, but I would urge anyone who plans to build a praying corner to focus on the reason WHY you want one in the first place, and its purpose for your home and family, instead of aiming for perfection. For us, this is it. We've got everything that we need.
The second one, is of course, as I mentioned, the drawer that we used for praying corner is the most beautiful piece of furniture in our living room, and one with the highest elevation, which could be easily seen from every corner of the room. Surely a praying corner deserves the best spot in the room, rite!
The third one, we spend a lot of time as a family in the living room, which also serves as a dining room and an extension of Michael's playing room. It's the biggest area of our home, where we converse a lot as a family, though it's not a quite place with all the comings and goings, TV, DVD player, table, Michael's toy chest, etc.; for us, it's just a perfect place for the purpose. Other family might treat the praying corner as an altar, a place to pray, but to us, it serves as a daily reminder. More often, we pray in the bedroom instead of near the praying corner. Also at the table before meal times, of course.
In the morning, before leaving for work, we grabbed something to eat from the table and we will see the praying corner. During the day, Michael will always see it, as well, while he is playing. In the evening, when we come home from work and sit down to eat dinner, we will see the praying corner again. It's a daily, constant reminder for us to pray, to spend time with the Lord.
We placed some icons on the praying corner.
A standing crucifix, which we got during Church bazaar. We spent a long time looking for the 'perfect' standing crucifix. During our trip to the Vatican and Assisi, we scoured the shops looking for one, yet we could not find anything suitable. It's just apt that we happened to stumble upon 'the one' literally on our backyard, aka the Church backyard! The crucifix had served on numerous Friday Mass at my office, so it definitely has a good vibe, with all the praying and worship happened around it!
A statue of Mother Mary that we received as a wedding gift. She also graced the altar for Friday Mass several times.
An empty Cana wedding wine and the prosperity ceramic bowl that I got from Holyland trip. The wine was especially bought to be consumed on our wedding day to remind us of the first miracle that Jesus did. The bowl was the first decorative object that I specifically bought for our home and it had a special lesson for me. The bowl represented the multiplication of bread and fish by our Lord Jesus Christ, yet the chapel to commemorate the event, which signifies prosperity and how Lord provides for all of us, was the simplest and humblest place of worship that I saw in all Holy Land! It didn't boas intricate architectural designs nor opulence, it doesn't scream wealth and glam, it was a serene little place. So there you go, glam does not equal wealth, in money and faith alike.
Then we also have a small orange candle that was Michael's baptism candle, and a bigger red candle with Our Lord prayer emblazoned on the glass container - a gift from Hubby, which means a lot to me.
Everyday, we see this praying corner, as it calls gently to us that above all the business and importance of day to day matters, family matters, work matters, financial matters, politics, tax, government, gossip, materialism, stuff, and everything, there is a high beauty and power out there that is forever and untainted by all the worries of life here on Earth.
That as we should live well for our lives here on Earth, let's not forget to prepare for our forever home in Heaven.
