Remember

 

I have been thinking a lot lately about remembering. My thoughts originated from a sermon I heard a few weeks back about the importance of looking back and seeing our own journey and regardless of the presence or absence of pain, joy, hope or despair to end our remembrance with hope and the knowledge that God is with us. Anyway, here are some thoughts about remembering. They are still quite disconnected and obscure but I would love to hear what you think.

 

"you need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all you have been and done...you are fierce with reality"

-Florida Scott Maxwell

 

 

 It is important to recount our own journey and the journeys of our people so that we can take an accurate stock of our lives. Through remembering we are afforded the opportunity to name the dark spaces, calling them into light as well as celebrate the ebenezer stones that mark our landscapes. In this honest and truthful recollection we are invited to embrace our own particular topography. To look out over what is ours and recognize the gorges, valleys, ridges and plains that have peppered our lives with adventure, pain, heartache and joy. I strongly believe in being “…fierce with reality” as Florida Scott Maxwell calls it; for when we acknowledge our entire story we are able to fully offer ourselves as instruments for God to use. Scars, scabs and all.

 

Now, I recognize that there are many people that will see long histories of darkness when they look back. They see more scars than not, and some still very open wounds. I understand that I and many of you reading this come from happy, healthy families but I also know that there can be much pain involved in examining the bumps and bruises that remain and recalling their sources. Please don’t think I am encouraging tugging on the roots of pain and despair in life. Those are things to simply name. Declare them as part of your story and move on but do not dwell on them.

 

In the end I hope that we will all find ourselves at a place to turn and see where we have come. And in that moment, when your minds eye takes in your history and arrives at the horizon you will find your hopes restored. Not because of the things you have achieved or all of the good that has happened but because of the great knowledge that you have not walked alone. Each step has been measured. He is with you and where you have gone He has gone before you and He will go beside you until, at last, you turn the corner to find you have arrived at your final home.