Don’t Lose the Memories
Where are your memories? Our sense of recall and remembrance is sparked by our senses. When you smell your mom’s cookies, is it the same smell from your childhood as you licked the batter off the wooden spoon? Eating raw eggs wasn’t an issue when we were young. Do you give advice that sounds just like your Dad? You hated that he was always right, but now you appreciate that he was and miss him more now. Do you look around your house and remember all the good things that happened there and the hard times too?
In the last few days, I’ve heard some wise words about holding on too tight to the physical evidence of our memories. We hold onto physical objects and places in an effort to save the stories that identify who we are. Some of our family are moving soon and they were reminded by their children that memories don’t stay in those places. Memories are in our heads and hearts. Our physical space, although important, is only a reminder of the stories we hold deep inside of us.
Over the last thirty years, Bryce and I have lived in five different homes. We never had the chance to establish a lifetime of memories in one location until our current space, the farm & farmhouse. Our longevity here helps us remember the last several years of our life. I find myself digging through our old photos to share our history before the farmhouse with our kids and to share with you moments in our life that have changed us.
My history bins hold memories from my birth all the way to our family memories of this year. It has random papers and certificates. It holds albums that have been carefully assembled by the moms in my life - women who are clearly more organized than me. But this is the place where our sense of sight is activated, we remember our history, and understand our legacy as we dig deep into these awkward boxes of scrambled photos and keepsakes.
Remembering these moments - a 6th birthday celebration, the high school baseball team, eating ice cream with our best friend, the first day of college, the day we were married, eating turkey around the Thanksgiving dinner table, the birth of our first child, and our parents holding their new grandson - these moments remind us of who we are and where we came from. It shows us the obstacles we have overcome and the absolute joy we have had in our lives.
In 2 Corinthians 4:16 - 18, Paul reminds us that through our faith, we constantly focus away from the physical and to the eternal.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:16 - 18 NIV
Our physical world changes. We change. Our bodies weaken over the years. Our life is interrupted by hard times. Let’s consider what we should do when that happens. After his own problems, life and death circumstances, Paul gives us sound advice. If we focus on God and our relationship with him - focusing on the eternal, the unseen - God will come along beside us and walk with us. We come out on the other side better, wiser, and more like Him.
When we focus on the eternal, it causes us to embrace material items on earth loosely. They are the physical evidence of a life well lived, but they are only objects. Sometimes we lose the house, but we keep the memories. We lose family members, but we work hard to keep their memories.
Where is the reminder of your memories? Is it in a box like mine? Let’s sit down with a cup of coffee and dig through those old photos. Let’s bring back the memories and see what we learn about ourselves from them. And what we learn about God when we find that old photo of a lost location or loved one.
I know I learn something new every time I go digging. I hope you do too.
Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,
Jody Flurie
Jody Flurie is the Founder and Owner of Red Dirt Legacy Co. where family legacy stories are celebrated through each Little Legacy Film Series - a series of short videos that can be easily shared to keep children and grandparents connected by what matters most for each family.
Jody believes all kids, young and old, need to understand where they came from and why it matters. Everyday, she works hard to instill this in her family because it’s only through understanding who we are that we can be fully ourselves and make a true indelible mark on the world.
If you want the same thing that Jody wants for her family, visit reddirtlegacyco.com to find out how your family can celebrate the wisdom, love, and legacy of an earlier generation. If we don’t step up to bring hope to our families, who will?