Obviously the blog has been a little quiet lately. I flew home to see my family in San Diego, and have spent the last few weeks catching up with many friends and loved ones whom I haven't seen in at least seven months, if not longer. Since today is the last day of 2013, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a quick thought.
For a long time, I've been planning to write a post about the importance of memory. I keep putting it off because the holidays are crazy, and also because I want this to be my most circumspect and meaningful post ever, and I feel immense personal pressure to make it good. This will not be that post, but it is a preface of sorts.
For a long time, I've been planning to write a post about the importance of memory. I keep putting it off because the holidays are crazy, and also because I want this to be my most circumspect and meaningful post ever, and I feel immense personal pressure to make it good. This will not be that post, but it is a preface of sorts.
The last few weeks have been filled with conversations reminiscing about the past, and looking through old photo albums which seem like relics of a long-forgotten era. While I'm very glad that most of these photos and stories are safely buried in a heap at my parent's house or scattered within the memories of people you'll never meet, it does me great good to revisit them every once in a while when I come home.
Over and over throughout the Bible, God continually commands his children with a one-word admonition that is repeated literally hundreds of times in the Old Testament:
Remember.
Remember the Lord your God, and remember his faithfulness to his people. In Deuteronomy Chapter 6, Moses reminds the Israelites to bind these reminders as symbols on their heads and write them on the door frames of their houses. He admonishes them that, as they prepare to enter the land God promised to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob that they be sure to tell to their future generations what God did for them.
It is only by remembering where you have come from, and how far God has brought you, that you can truly see His magnificent plans at work. The situations and problems that you encountered in 2013 may have seemed very random and unpleasant at the time, but I'll bet that if you glance backwards today and see how each one of those situations brought you to this point in your life, you will see God's hand in ways that you never could have in the moment. Life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood looking backwards. Our greatest pitfall in the area of memory is this: we all too often forget things which we're supposed to remember, and remember things which we're supposed to forget.
Take some time today to look back on 2013, and on your life in general. Scan your memory carefully, and try your best to remember what's important, and remember how God has shown his perfect plans through your seemingly-random circumstances.
Hope everyone has a blessed 2014, I'll see you back in D.C. on Sunday.
Over and over throughout the Bible, God continually commands his children with a one-word admonition that is repeated literally hundreds of times in the Old Testament:
Remember.
Remember the Lord your God, and remember his faithfulness to his people. In Deuteronomy Chapter 6, Moses reminds the Israelites to bind these reminders as symbols on their heads and write them on the door frames of their houses. He admonishes them that, as they prepare to enter the land God promised to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob that they be sure to tell to their future generations what God did for them.
It is only by remembering where you have come from, and how far God has brought you, that you can truly see His magnificent plans at work. The situations and problems that you encountered in 2013 may have seemed very random and unpleasant at the time, but I'll bet that if you glance backwards today and see how each one of those situations brought you to this point in your life, you will see God's hand in ways that you never could have in the moment. Life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood looking backwards. Our greatest pitfall in the area of memory is this: we all too often forget things which we're supposed to remember, and remember things which we're supposed to forget.
Take some time today to look back on 2013, and on your life in general. Scan your memory carefully, and try your best to remember what's important, and remember how God has shown his perfect plans through your seemingly-random circumstances.
Hope everyone has a blessed 2014, I'll see you back in D.C. on Sunday.
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