Taking Time to Remember…
My parents are buried at Greenwood Memorial Cemetery in Spokane, Washington. Each Memorial Day weekend, over 2000 flags are raised at the cemetery. It is quite the site to behold.
Today is Memorial Day, a federal holiday to commemorate those who have given their lives in the line of performing military duties. Oh, how important it is to never forget the price paid for freedom.
Over the years, Memorial Day has also become a day to remember loved ones who have died, a day to place flowers at the burial site of those we never want to forget.
Remembering is a good thing.
The word remember is used more than 200 times in the Bible. Writers remembered good times and bad. And they remembered God’s goodness. The writer of Lamentations had experienced bitter times, and yet, in his distress, he wrote some remarkable words.
I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness…
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember…
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
(Lamentations 3:19-23 MSG)
Our family has experienced deaths of loved ones this past year, and we remember the sadness—"oh, how well we remember.” Death is a bittersweet experience. But, when we stop to remember God’s goodness, our hearts are comforted. At some deep level, we know God’s faithfulness is greater than our loss.
If you are feeling pangs of grief today, I am praying for you as I write these words. I’m asking God to comfort you and enable you to “keep a grip on hope” as you navigate through the “utter lostness.”
