Tag: Memory

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Timeless Faith for A Time Conscious World: Thoughts for New Year’s Day

The Riley family in Bethlehem, Israel at the Church of the Nativity – January 2017

Happy New Year everyone! How was your News Year’s Eve Celebration? Hopefully it was safe and filled with love and laughter. Now that we have turned the page to a new year I want to offer you a few thoughts of which to be mindful as you begin this year with hope and anticipation.

Have you ever wished you could stop time? Sure you have. Sometimes moments come into our lives and we just don’t want to leave them. We want them to last. Just about every moment I shared with my family on our pilgrimage to Israel was like that. I have good news! No, you cannot stop time but you can enter into the timelessness of eternity. How? I’m glad you asked.

If you are like me, you are probably saying to yourself, “How can it be 2020 already?” I mean, where does the time go? The answer to that question is – nowhere. Time does not move, we do. Time only exists as a creation of God for we humans to mark our days and nights. Time isn’t what, where, or how real life is lived. Real, authentic life is lived in the eternal presence of God through faith.

“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

Psalm 139:16 NLT

There really is a lot of wisdom in the old saying, “Sometimes, you need to stop and smell the roses.” And when the roses are gone (as all flowers fade) we can still recall their scent vividly when we set our mind to try. When we become mindful that all of our lives were lived out in the heart and mind of the Living God before they ever came into being in this world, we can realize that our past memories and experiences are never really gone; they are waiting for us in the heart of God so that we can recall them into our present existence. This is why some memories are so powerful. God allows a past experience or memory to become fresh in our mind and hearts all over again when we enter into them through faith and mindfulness.

This New Year’s Day, I want to encourage you to meditate for a while on all the blessings God has brought you through. Recall former days with family and friends, many of whom may no longer be with us physically. Realize that life… all life… is eternal. Our loved ones whom we miss so much in the present are truly here with us if we will but remember them. Allow God to bring them into our present and hear and feel their love once again.

Nothing can separate us from each another, not even death when we live through faith in Christ and His eternal love (Romans 8:38). To live in Christ, as St. Paul writes, is to be mindful that this life we live in time and space is mystically hidden in the very life of Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He only gives true life – abundant life (John 10:10).

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20 CEB

My prayer for you today is to remember life and all of God’s blessings. Live today in the fullness and mindfulness of the moments you have experienced and are experiencing. And as you remember you will forget about time, for a while anyway. Oh, the sun will eventually set on this day we call January 1, 2020. However, the sun will never set on our memories of this day as we recall them in the heart and mind of our loving God.

A Happy & Blessed New Year to you all!

Shalom,

Brad

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How’s Your Memory?

 

“Take heed lest you forget the Lord your God, by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I command you this day:

Deuteronomy 8:11

Read Deut. 8:11-20

Forgetful

Leon, an elderly man in our church of blessed memory, used to go around handing out $2 bills to people, always with a big smile on his face. When he gave one to me he said, “If you keep this in your wallet, you’ll never be broke.” I still have that $2 bill, and our kids have theirs also. I don’t keep it in my wallet though. I’m always afraid I might spend it in some moment of weakness, especially considering I almost never carry cash with me.

I keep that $2 bill on my dresser. Every time I see it I’m reminded of Leon’s generous, loving spirit, how he exemplified Christ to me, and how blessed I am. I have food, health, shelter, and family! What more could I ask for? Our spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting should be like that $2 bill. They should remind us of how much God has blessed us and of His great plans for us. The Lenten season is a time for Christians to be reminded of what a generous, loving Heavenly Father we have.

In the western world, we have so much abundance, too often we must work at being thankful. If we aren’t reminding ourselves of God’s abundant provisions in our lives we tend to think we built all of them ourselves. While thankfulness for God’s blessings should be a daily state of mind, I am thankful for a church that calls us to remember. We need to remember not only all God’s blessings, but all His deliverance as well.

The children of Israel inherited a land flowing with milk and honey, a land God gave to them. He knew in their success they would forget Him. The best remedy for not forgetting is to live daily in a spirit of thankfulness. For me, Lent is a season to remember how blessed I am, especially how “Forgiven” I am. As a way of saying, “Thanks” to the Father, I offer up fasting, and concentrated times of prayer and meditation.

How’s your memory? Are you living gratefully for the blessings of life? Or, like the Israelites, have you forgotten just where you came from and who delivered you? If so, take some time this Lenten season to let God remind you of all his blessings, and as an act of love, offer up times of prayer and fasting.

Shalom,

Pastor Brad

My daily Lenten prayer – “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing spirit. ” NRSV

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