remember (memorial day, 2017)

remember.

today, of course, is memorial day, by definition a day of remembering. and while i certainly hope that your day is happy and full of the best kinds of joys, i also hope that you find some way and time to remember how it is that these joys came to you. yes, of course i am thinking about the sacrifices of women and men who served our country whose service included the hefty price of their lives. even if you don't know any of them, i hope you find a way to remember them somehow, and those who grieve them still.

but i am also thinking of something even more poignant and powerful, at least for me. when i think about remembering how it is that we have come to enjoy such blessedness, i am hoping you'll consider that every good and perfect gift comes from above (james 1:17). i am hoping we might take a lesson from the poetry of the Hebrews, who never failed to take the time to remember what God had done for them (check out psalm 105, as one example). i am hoping we can remember the charge Jesus gave his followers before he left, when he said, "you will be my witnesses." i am hoping that we can remember that a witness is one who both sees, and then shares what has been seen. on this memorial day - this day of remembering - i hope we can remember what we have seen, and then take the time to share it.

i remember that God used a move to a different state during my early adolescence, to save me from a path that i didn't even realize i was on, leading to a dark place. i remember that God somehow got Shannon to say "yes" to me, in spite of all my failings and faults. i remember countless moments of dealing with consequences of less-than-stellar decisions, and then discovering that i am somehow still loved. i have seen the miracle of three human births, gifts beyond measure, beating hearts in rhythm with Love. i have seen friends and laughter over a glass of wine, music that somehow pulled back the curtain on a deeper beauty beyond, and pain that pointed to the One whose heart was broken in love for all of it. i have seen this. i am a witness. i remember. i hope you will, too.

"remember the wonders God has done..." -psalm 105:6

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