The Touch of Memories

I thank my God every time I remember you. (Philippians 1:3, NIV)

My grandfather was a farmer and a hardworking one at that. From a young age, he worked on his parents’ farm, the farm he later bought and expanded. As a young married man, he made a living tilling the soil not with today’s tractors, but a two-mule team and a bottom plow. His hands held steady down the rows and then lifted the heavy bottom plow and turned the mules at the end.

My mother gave me something that belonged to my grandfather—two of those bottom plows. I live on a farm and she thought I might like to have them around to display.

But you know what the best part of those two plows is for me?

Putting my hands on the handles and knowing that’s where he put his hands. 

You see, he’s in heaven now, but he’s still with me every time I stand behind those plows and touch the handles.

He lives in the touch of my memories.

Paul was separated physically from his loved ones, too; specifically, his friends in Philippi. Stuck in prison, his memories were liberated. Free to recall those delightful experiences when they touched one another. Times when God’s Spirit touched them in deep places within.

Occasions of praise and worship, healing, common meals shared; communion.

His body was restricted from free movement, and yet his mind overflowed with memories. So much so that he had to write a letter to say, I thank my God every time I remember you. (Philippians 1:3, NIV)

Wherever you go in life, whatever seasons you may enjoy or endure, however many vacation days like this Memorial Day you experience, you have your memories. There are things to touch like bottom plows and from-the-bottom-of-my-heart experiences that transport those memories into real-time.

Stories you tell. Tears you spill. Gratitude you write.

The legacy of loved ones resides eternally in your memories.

Woven like a bright red, silken thread through the tapestry of your memories is the legacy of The One who touches us all—Jesus—whose death gives you life.

Thank your God every time you remember.

You live and work Faith Positive as you do.