connecting our memories to everlasting… or tug-o-war…
either way, it’s all good 🙂
I’m writing today as a contributor to the Christian Writers Blog Chain. Our theme for this month is “Memory.†Christianwriters.com is an excellent place to network if you’re a Christian writer or author.
I believe there is a connection between our memories and everlasting. Our memory is one of the fascinating abilities of the human mind. The ability to store knowledge and images and recall them years later is a true gift… these memories are a collection of people, places, feelings, sounds and smells that we’ve encountered… they make us all unique.
Memory…
I think it’s kind of neat that our memory is more than just what we’re leaving behind. We all have a place in everlasting, right? Like the pieces of a puzzle fitting together perfectly… if God really wanted this place to be any different from the way it is don’t you think maybe He would have done just that? I try to think of our past and the memories as a continuous or fused process with the future and everlasting. Everything fits together seamlessly in His perfect way. This concept or connection that I’m suggesting is simply carrying forward the impressions that we’ve made in the past… through cause and effect… to the impact they have on the future, or everlasting.
I would like to leave behind a lasting memory that is good and one that people will say he did a good job of walking in Jesus’ footsteps. Not someone who was perfect, but someone who God used in a powerful way.
How we live our lives will determine how we are remembered.
What we do now DOES matter… every day… and for the future, too.
This Is A Love Story… yep, that’s my story. It’s been almost a year since I wrote anything about it… unless you can read between the lines here at I’m Just Thinkin’. A lot of what I write here is my daily journey.
Sometimes it seems like the harder we work for God the more difficult the evil one makes it for us.
It’s sort of funny because I actually became a believer later in life… I was baptized on March 5, 2000, at Neptune Baptist Church by Pastor Tom Bary. Interestingly, life seemed to get an order of magnitude more challenging after that. Sounds strange, doesn’t it?
Yes, I’ve worked in some beautiful places… at the same time I’ve seen a few trains run off the track too (in a manner of speaking…)!
My life can be pretty ho-hum sometimes… and on other days you wouldn’t believe me if I told you…
Most of all, it truly seems like a tug-of-war between good and evil. Remember Raggedy Ann? Yep, I’m feeling her pain when she’s the object of affection of two kids at the same time!
I guess one of the most meaningful things that I can carry from memory to everlasting is that I feel like my children love and respect me for who I am. I try my best to just be real. That’s about the best way to sum it up. No ulterior motive… just a pretty simple kid at heart trapped inside what the HB tells me is an attractive shell. My girls tell me they’re proud of me. That brings a tear to my eye…
Memory… so much more that what I am leaving behind…
We all have a place in everlasting…
What do you most want to leave behind / have a place in everlasting?
Christian Writers Blog Chain
Shakespeare wrote in the sonnets of the written word being the key to living on long past our earthly deaths. In some ways, this is very similar to what you suggest here—-that the legacy of what we leave behind us, the memories others have of us, will tie us to the future.
Yikes, unbelievable that you came up with that Heather… yes, the sonnets… especially #18…
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
… absolutely ties back to everlasting, from last week…
http://chrisvonada.com/2012/08/09/beauty-is-in-the-heart-of-the-beholder/
That is a miracle in itself Heather 🙂
I guess the memory I would most left behind is that I did the very best I could, and I allowed people the dignity to figure things out on their own.
I love that one Chris, you got me smiling… excellent!!!
Good insights, Chris. You make some good points about children…and what we leave behind.
Thanks Michael for stopping by!
Ah! I love the references to the Bard here in the comments. My favorite sonnet is 116 – “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds or bends with the remover to remove. No It is an ever fixed mark…” etc. (I am quoting from memory here so please forgive me if I messed up!
Thanks for this thought provoking post Chris
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Oh. My. Goodness. Tracy… this is going to turn into the love train 😉
I love this take on memory. Not our memories but the memories other people have of us.
I hope people will say of me: she loved Jesus and let Jesus love other people through her.
Great, thoughtful post, Chris.
You definitely inspire and teach me more about Jesus all the time Carol, thank you!!
Chris, as usual, a very poignant post. Thanks so much for sharing. You’re so right about life getting more difficult once we become believers. After all, if we weren’t in the Lord’s pocket, the evil one wouldn’t need to worry about us, right? So, I try and take it as a compliment, even though it causes frustration at times. But at least the Lord is able to give us moments of rest.
Well, in a way I have to say I’m glad to be in good company that others feel like life is more difficult in some ways once we’re believers. Thank you for the compliments on my writing, I really appreciate it Nona!
Unique thought of our memories being a chain of the everlasting. Should make us think a little more of building a strong chain of positive effects.
Just think of the possibilities Chris, they’re endless…
Hi Chris, this post reminds me of a quote I use all the time now. When people ask me how I am doing, I answer, “I am living out the dash.” Have you read the poem about the dash? I cant quote it but when you pass on, your tombstone shows the day you were born and the day you die. Between those dates is a dash. The dash represents how you lived your life. Did you leave the world a better place than when you arrived? Do your children (or young people you were blessed to influence) live a life worth living because of your influence? Lots of fond memories to share at the funeral. It may be a bit dark, but I see the positive in it.
Wow, that is powerful Neil! I found the poem about the dash and didn’t know that one. I ONLY see the positive in that one, thank you for sharing it!
fyi… here’s the link to Linda Ellis’ website, she’s the author of the poem “the dash”
http://lindaellis.net/
memory.
small word everlasting meaning
God remembers but can forgive and forget
Forgive and forget? I think there’s way more to this journey than many of us realize JB!
Good thoughts and thought provoking – I think it was Stephen Covey who I first remember reading about the funeral stuff mentioned above: Consider what you want people to be able to say at your funeral, and live toward it. I think it’s part of “Begin with the end in mind”. You could pick quite a number of Scripture verses to anchor that on.
I’m a Covey fan too Bill, he was brilliant! Thanks for adding to the conversation.
Great post, Chris. And your daughter’s saying what they did already sums it up, doesn’t it? The legacy will live on.
God bless you, brother.
Ditto Deborah, thank you 🙂
Ugh. Daughters, not daughter’s. 🙂
Good post, Chris. I appreciate your insights here. You said, “Sometimes it seems like the harder we work for God the more difficult the evil one makes it for us.” I have seen this, too. We are definitely in a war.
Thank you Sandi!!
This is a unique post and very insightful. I enjoyed reading it. Your thoughts reminded me that I should always make good memories for those around me to carry with them once I’ve passed. Being remembered ‘well’ is a good thing.
I like that perspective Stephanie, the servant attitude for sure in making good memories for those around you!
I was at a relative’s funeral a few months back, and the priest officiating (it was and Episcopalian funeral service, something new to me) kept talking about how much my late great-uncle loved God and loved life. That’s what I want people to be able to say about me – that they knew I loved God by the way I lived.
Excellent, thought-provoking post, Chris. Thanks for sharing.
I think that’s a good goal Traci, thanks for sharing it!!