The journey of faith is one of remembrance. And as I mentioned in last week’s post, forgetfulness can cause us to wander far off the path that leads us home.
Scripture is full of admonitions to remember. The Israelites celebrated various feasts during the year to remember all that God had done for them. Parents were instructed to tell their children the story of their redemption from slavery. Many events in Israel’s history were marked with pillars and monuments to remember what happened at a specific location, i.e. when they crossed the Jordan River for example. And Paul pointed back to the gospel to remind the Galatians of their freedom in Christ.
Daniel Taylor in “The Power of Words and the Wonder of God” says this about the importance of remembering, “When Israel remembered the stories that told them who they were, where they had come from, and who their God was, they prospered. When they quit telling the stories, they no longer understood who they were, and they invited disaster. The same is true of us.” And this, “The nation of Israel had a problem with memory lapses. The prophets (who were primarily storytellers) were always telling them to remember the stories of the past because they were the key to the present and the future.”
When I look back at the ways God has blessed me in the past, I can face the future with confidence, trusting in His future grace.
Marriage is designed by God to be a visual reflection of the relationship the church has with Christ. And so remembrance is important in marriage as well. Just as the Israelites needed to remember their stories to keep them focused on their first love, so too in marriage do we need to remember our own stories. And just as the Israelites were prone to forgetfulness about God’s redemptive work in their lives, so too can we be forgetful about God has done in our marriage and the journey we have taken together over the years.
Since my husband and I had children, our lives have gotten caught up in all the activities and details of raising them. Sometimes we forget what it was like before, when it was just the two of us. We’ve forgotten the fun times we had as a couple. We’ve forgotten that we once enjoyed spending time together and that we had joint interests other than watching the boys play soccer or break boards at Tae Kwon Do. Our walls that were once covered with wedding photos and pictures of adventures in our college days, are now plastered with photos of smiling boys and their adventures.
In an effort to remember who we are as a couple, I decided to make a ‘memorial’ wall of the travel adventures my husband and I have taken. Because one day, the kids will be gone and it will be just the two of us again. Will we recognize one another or will we be complete strangers? Will we remember the fun times we enjoyed before being parents? And will we face our future with confidence, knowing that more adventures and fun lie ahead?
I hope so. And just as I need to remember and reflect on the story of God’s love written on my heart, I look at these photos and momentos to remind me of our own story of love. Also just as with faith, this remembrance helps me look forward to the future of my marriage with hope and confidence.
How about you? How do you remember your story of love?
Linking up with my friend Beth:
