Flowers in a Window (1956)

Lowry’s Flowers in a Window (1956) hangs in the gallery that bears his name down in Salford. Had it been painted by someone else, it would be worthless, but his signature adds rather a lot of zeros to any auction price.

We see a dull little terraced house with not much going on. Zooming out would have revealed more houses, but all of them equally monotonous. Yet this householder has placed a vase of flowers in the front window. It might have been placed on some dining room table or sideboard, hidden from street view. Instead, they were placed where all might enjoy them, including passersby and neighbours.

In a world so short of peace, beauty and happiness, it behoves us to share and widely distribute what joy and kindness we have. It is why we Christians cannot meekly be quiet about our faith, why ‘religion’ is not merely a ‘private matter’, confined to the silence and cloistered quarters of the heart. In a bleak and dreary street, may the Lord Jesus be seen from our windows, heard in our conversations and advertised in our lifestyles.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

A  D