I just finished looking through several hundred pictures from our Panama Mission Trip, and I am reminded of so many things. It's amazing how that was only two months ago and in some ways it feels like forever. I saw pictures of things I don't even remember happening. I also saw pictures of so many people - so many children - that had moved my heart and that I had wanted to pray for and stay connected to. Yet time has passed and in a lot of ways, I have already forgotten.
It's funny to me how quickly we forget our commitments and our passions. I don't think it's funny to God though. But I also don't think it's a surprise to Him either. You know as you look through the Bible, I see so many things God has tried to do for us to help us remember Him and his commandments. He gave us Moses & the miracle of the Red Sea. He gave us the 10 Commandments on a tablet to be kept in God's temple. He gave us all of these festivals and holidays to remember how He delivered us or saved us or gave us grace. He's always telling people to pile up rocks in remembrance of something. And yet, the people always forget anyway. And we forget too.
But I don't want to forget. I want to remember the way I sensed God as I ministered to little kids who I couldn't even talk to because I didn't know their language. I want to remember how God has always pulled me through every tough and low time I've ever had. I want to remember the joy of being in worship. I want to remember what it felt like when I first realized that Jesus died for my sins. And I think it's going to take things like what God told the Jewish people to do. Set up a monument - a reminder - something that you can't miss that will put you back to where you were when God did something in your life. Maybe it's a picture you hang up somewhere you look everyday. Maybe it's posting up Bible verses. I don't know. But we need to think about this.
I'm going to hang the picture at the top of this post up at my desk with the verse Matthew 19:14
"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"
What are you going to do to remember?
1 comment:
hmm..I don't know if that's a retorical question. But I'll answer it anyways.
I've gotten in a habit of drawing a heart with a small cross over the top of it with sharpie on my wrist every day.
It keeps me in check whenever I see it. And I love explaining to people that it's not a real tattoo, and why i take the time to draw it on my arm every day.
Then I usually get a lecture about how one of these days I'm going to get ink poisoning, but I'm not too worried about that right now.
Sometimes, I'll jot down a verse that is speaking to me at the time. But usually it's just the simple little heart & cross.
That's my reminder.
Post a Comment