REFLECTIONS

Heartfelt Memories

We drove past the little church giving it little notice. The church I grew up in depicted the state of my hometown. Old. But then, so am I. Once filled with life, now embattled to sustain it. One can choose to focus on the empty storefronts around the town square, or the diminishing congregation attending Sunday services, or wrinkled brows marking the faces of my classmates, or the absence of friends passed on from this world. But God graciously blessed us with a beautiful alternative. Memories.

Memories are a blessing that keeps us connected whether we see and touch each other or not. Age inspires them. Reunions rekindled them. The sight of classmates’ smiling faces, the feel of their firm handshakes, sincerity of their hugs, and the stories tell bring life to memories. Our entire lives are planted there; and we may harvest the fruit from them whenever we choose to recall them.

In his poem, Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, “I am a part of all I ever met.” Life first met me in my hometown. My education began there, heartwarming, and painful life lessons were taught there. The place, the times, and the lives of the dear hearts and gentle people that lived there shaped the values I still honor every day, all securely locked in my memory.

Heartfelt memories enlivened the church as we drove quietly by it that day. They restored freshness and thriving commerce to the deteriorating town square; and heartfelt memories bloomed from the smiles schoolmates I talked with and even from those whose faces were missing. All of it indelibly a part of who I came to be.

Memories—a blessing of life. Our lives are planted there.

Mine is a personal copy of the footprint my life will leave in this world.

“You are the light of the world,”

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org

Click here for Printer Friendly Version