I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us. (Isaiah 63:7, NIV)
Today is my 25th wedding anniversary. I have golf memories older than that, but I don’t commemorate them like I do a day as significant as this.
My wife, I might kid, has tolerated me all this time. In truth, it is more like this: she has stood by me. She has been my friend and my forgiver, my confidant and my colleague.
I know all the things a godly husband should be doing. I don’t do all of them, even the ones I’ve written and spoken about at times. As “people of the Book,” not all our wisdom comes from experience. It comes from God, in his word. I’m still trying to act on everything he has said. Call that a confession, but it would not surprise my wife. She knows my weaknesses—all of them—and goes on loving me.
This is why we step away from the flow of days when we come to a day like this, why we take “time out of time” to look back or forward or even at the moment we are in. It’s a form of meditation. It’s meditation on memories for this one great purpose: to give God all glory and thanks for what he has done for us.
Isaiah encouraged the people of God to actively engage in this sort of remembering, to hold up memories for the purpose of praising him. When we set aside days for gazing back—either all together as his people at a time like Passover or Easter or Pentecost—or individually on birthdays or anniversaries, we are not just partying for the fun of it. We are celebrating the excellent goodness of God.
I could invite my golfing friends over on the anniversaries of my holes-in-one, say, and pretend that there is some lasting joy in that. But I am far more grateful that God has given me memories that last not only because they look to times that were great in the moment, but because they embrace people and events that will matter long past this life abundant, into life eternal.
Somewhere God has given you rich days to remember as well. Perhaps you might do well to turn the day of your salvation into a joyous occasion, when all your friends gather to tell their stories again, the stories of how Jesus has loved and renewed them. Hey, I just might have to add that idea to my own calendar!
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February 21, 2012
Copyright © 2012 Links Players International
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