Don’t Forget to Remember

  As I’m writing this, it’s Thursday afternoon.   I don’t know what that means in your world but, in mine, it means that it is time to clean the toilets. Please hold the applause. On second thought, applaud your hearts out. I deserve it because those babies are sparkling.   I would love to say that I sing hymns and quote scripture while I am waiting for the scrubbing bubbles to work their magic but, well, that just would not be the truth. Some jobs just don’t make me feel super spiritual. I’m only human, y’all.   Those 89 words you just read? Yeah, they have nothing to do with anything. I really just want someone to know that my toilets are clean.   About a year ago, my husband and I made the decision to turn off the cable. We have a Roku which enables us to stream Netflix, Amazon Prime videos and such. We get to enjoy all of the classics. Currently, we are on season 5 of Andy Griffith. Am I the only one that never realized that Barney was quite the lady’s man and that he and Andy both had serious commitment issues?   This week, we discovered that there is a Shutterfly app. You can make it work like a screensaver on your television and, yesterday, I sat and watched hundreds of photos go across the screen. There were babies being born {When the kids ask, “which one is that?” I usually have to make it up. Is that awful?}, holidays, family hiking trips – a lot of great memories. There had been a lot of good times in ten years. Sometimes, I forget. Life gets busy with responsibilities and bills and family drama. We can get caught up in the day to day and we forget to remember.   When Joshua was leading the children of Israel to the Promised Land, there came a point when they needed to cross the Jordan River. As the priests who were carrying the ark stepped into the river, the waters separated and stood up as if to get out of their way. The priests then stood on dry land until the entire nation of Israel crossed over to the other side.   Then, the Lord tells the people to do something interesting. He instructs one man from each tribe to take a stone out of the river and carry it with him. The stones were to serve as reminders of what the Lord had done there at the Jordan. Why? Because people forget. The Lord said that when their children asked “in times to come” about the stones, they could tell them the story. One would think that a story that included waters being parted would just never get old. Unfortunately, we are human and we forget – we even forget the miraculous things.   Today, I challenge you to remember. Read some old journals. Look at some photo albums. (Do people still have those?) Tell some stories to your children. Remind them, and yourself, of all the good times and the miraculous things God has done.