Remembering!

Memorial Day...a day meant to remember. This day, originating after the Civil War, was designed to remember those who have given their lives fighting for the freedoms that we enjoy in the United States. Well, I spent my Memorial Day doing a different kind of remembering!

Mom and I in a sea of memories and laughter!

 My mother's frequent flier miles gave me the opportunity to spend four days this past weekend with my parents in Temperance, Michigan...remembering! Due to their upcoming retirement this fall, it was high time to go through my belongings that had stayed at their place when I went to college, when I got married and when we moved to Mexico...and decide what to do with all that stuff!

Wearing the ol' cap and gown again!

So, Mom and I found ourselves knee-high and laughing in a sea of memories! Besides going through box after box of papers, VBS crafts and journals, I spent the weekend reliving some of the activities that I most cherished growing up: bike rides with each of my parents, walking at a local metropark, pizza on Saturday night, sleeping in my bedroom (Mom even put the Holly Hobby bedspread on the bed!), watching the evening news, taking a walk in the field behind the house, playing piano duets with Mom and going to church. You see, once Dad retires they will be moving south in order to spend part of the year with my brother and his family in Florida and the other part of the year with us in Mexico. So, this weekend was not only a sorting weekend but a time to remember and relive special moments in the only home I knew growing up.

Me and my Holly Hobby bedspread from just a few years ago :-)  (More like 30 some years ago!)

Historians tell us that it serves us well to remember and, after this weekend, I fully agree! Remembering, and reliving, moments that provided me with stability and the foundation I needed as a child, in order to spread my wings in obedience to God as an adult, renewed the vision that I have for the home that I strive to provide for our children, especially considering the fact that the majority of them experienced anything but stability prior to joining our family. I have returned to Mexico with renewed energy to stand firm in stability-building-activities such as: making the kids make their beds everyday, daily devotions, simple birthday celebrations, listening well, good night blessings and good morning kisses, shared meals, and taking time to play together, among others.

Dad and I heading out on a bike ride

Secondly, rummaging through boxes of documents commemorating my birth, through elementary school, junior high, high school, college, our marriage and up to Josiah's birth, including my first Young Author's Conference at age 6, pictures and my journal from Creation '89 where I gave my life to the Lord, memoirs from my first trip to Mexico at age 16 and letters from classmates as we prepared to graduate from high school, I realized that I had truly received a huge blessing from the Lord in that my parents gave me the freedom to be who God had created me to be from a very young age, and that that little blonde 6 year old doesn't look much different from this 38 year old, other than having gone through normal and expected maturing: physically, spiritually and emotionally. Seeing physical evidence of that continuity and integrity greatly comforted my soul and encouraged me to continue being me (Fancy that!) and to continue pursuing those things that I have always loved, was created to love, and those areas in which the Lord has gifted me: writing, mothering, looking at life in a positive way, playing piano and violin and to keep on smiling!

Mom and I at the metropark (Dad took the picture!)

Even Jesus told His disciples to “do this in remembrance of me”, commanding them to partake in an activity, the Lord's supper, in order to remember all that He had done and been here on earth, not for the sake of remembering, but for the sake of those memories providing a launching pad for the disciplies to then move into all that He had prepared for them to be and do.

Memories are not meant to be a muddy marsh that bog us down, but a springy trampoline that launches us into all that will be! I sure had fun this past weekend jumping on the trampoline of the memories that the Lord has sown in my life! Now, to move onto the harvest!