May 3rd, 2020: Memory

 Fierce Imaginings - The Great War: Symbol, Memory and God

I spent Saturday repainting the old metal sheds we have in our backyard. It is an old shed where we used to store the kids' outdoor toys and bikes. It should be taken to the dump years ago but it didn't happen. It is still there because it reminds me of the years when the kids were young and I don't want to lose it.

Memory is essential in life because it helps us understand our own life history. It plays a great part in an ongoing story of who we are, where we are from, where we are going, why we are the way we are, and what is important to us.

Memory can be painful, exciting, bewildering, beautiful, and perplexing. Yet, without memory, we are like a tree without its roots. It has no chance to grow, to flourish, and to provide comfort with those who seek refuge on a hot day. The deeper the roots dig further into the ground (our ways of nurturing our memory), the more a tree can weather the elements. So memory is not just about the past, it has a conversation with the present about the future.

I have a memory when God spoke for the first time. It was in a little Catholic church in Saigon not too far from where we used to live. I just sat in a pew and stared at the Crucifix for a long time. I believe up to this day that God had a conversation with me. From that day forward, I knew that I am about his service. It took a while for me to figure out what that is...God continues to have conversations with me ever since.

Psalm 139: 13
'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."

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