He Lay Down and Slept

1 Kings 19:5Bedroom

$24.00
Some weeks end with you getting into bed with nothing left, after saying out loud that you have had enough. Over the low dresser, on the wall you face from the bed, there is a painting of someone asleep and someone kneeling beside him, one hand almost at his shoulder. Nobody in it is being asked for anything. You come to bed tired and you are simply met. When a friend stands in the doorway she sees a watercolour first, and asks about it, and you get to tell her what it means to you.

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170 gsm archival matte paper, ships rolled

Perfect for self-framing

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Bedroom scripture print gift 1 Kings 19

Nobody in it is asking him to get up

From the bed, the picture holds still. A figure lying down under a low branch, his back to the room, and another kneeling close with one hand not quite landed on his shoulder. Off to the side, set on the ground, a small loaf and a jar of water. No one has spoken yet.

Look longer and the light is the quiet part. It gathers around the kneeling figure and spills across the sleeper, so the ground between them stays warm. Nothing in the frame hurries. It is the one thing in the room that needs nothing from you tonight.

People read it differently. One sees someone asleep and someone kneeling to wake him gently. Another sees a tired person watched over while they sleep. A third sees a meal set down beside a sleeper before a single word is asked of him. Each reading is true, and the one you say out loud is the one your home keeps.

From the artist

The hand is a breath from his shoulder

Maren Hale
Maren Hale
Arrivals and still places

I keep coming back to the hand. It is not on his shoulder yet. It is a breath away, and the whole picture waits inside that small distance. The light finds the kneeling one first, then loosens across the sleeper's back and stops there, soft as a blanket set down. He is allowed to stay exactly where he is.

The bread on the ground is the part I cannot leave alone. Somebody set it there and said nothing at all. What I hope, for whoever lives with this above her dresser, is that the last thing she looks at before the lamp goes off is a place where nothing is being asked of her, and that she sleeps the way he sleeps.

Scripture print gift

For the one who says she wants nothing

One woman buys it for herself, in the middle of a bedroom refresh she has been putting off. She is going through a wilderness season and she knows it. She wants the wall she faces at night to be the calmest thing in the house.

The other is a friend from small group, or a husband, buying for a woman who has gone quiet. She says she truly does not want stuff, that she has everything she needs and no space for more. This one she keeps anyway, because it is not advice and it does not ask her to try harder.

It hangs on the wall you face from the bed, above a low dresser, and at 45x60 cm framed it holds the left half of a two-piece bedroom wall.

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Bedroom bible verse wall art

The paper, the frame, the sizes

  • 170 gsm paper Matte uncoated as a print only sheet, coated silk behind the frame. No shine under a bedside lamp.
  • Black wood frame, 12 mm A flat square profile, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, matte finish, plexiglass front, no mat, the print running to the inner edge.
  • Three sizes 12x16 in / 30x40 cm, 18x24 in / 45x60 cm, 24x32 in / 60x80 cm. The middle one sits well over a low dresser.
For a hard season

What people ask about this one

1.What is the story of Elijah under the broom tree?
In 1 Kings 19 Elijah walks a day into the wilderness, sits down under a broom tree and asks to die. Then he lies down and sleeps. An angel touches him, and there is bread and a jar of water on the ground beside him, and he eats and lies down again before anything is asked of him. That second touch is the moment in this painting.
2.What bible verse is about rest when you are exhausted?
The line this piece carries is 1 Kings 19:5: "And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him." Psalm 127:2 and Matthew 11:28 are the others people reach for in the same season. This one was chosen because the rest comes first in it, before any word of instruction.
3.What size print goes above a bed?
Above a bed or a low dresser, 18x24 in / 45x60 cm suits most walls. It holds the space over the furniture without crowding the ceiling. If the dresser is long, or you are hanging two pieces side by side, 24x32 in / 60x80 cm carries it, and 12x16 in / 30x40 cm works better on a narrow wall beside the bed.
4.Will it look like a slogan sign in the bedroom?
There are no words printed across it, only the small scripture reference line. It reads as a watercolour scene first, so a guest sees a painting and asks about it. What it means is yours to say in your own words.
5.What can I say when I give this to a friend who is burnt out?
Keep it short. Something like: this one is about being let to rest first, and I thought of you. There is no need to explain the picture, since she will find her own reading of it. If she has gone quiet, a line that asks nothing back tends to land better than a question.
Bible verse wall art

Tonight it is already on the wall

Three sizes, framed or as a single sheet, for the wall you face from the bed.

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