Remember
Hello,
I am sitting here, trying to come up with something to post on the blog today. I am on spring break, so I have plenty of time, but I keep writing half a post and not knowing how to finish it. I am thinking about Joy, about Sanctification, about the monotony of life, but nothing is a fully fleshed out thought yet. Then I look up.
My kids are running all around me, full of unshakeable joy and energy, playing with water guns outside (It is 80 degrees here in Phoenix at 9am). I have a water bottle full of ice water. I had my quiet time this morning. I had a good breakfast. The sun is shining. I have a beautiful family around me and a house over my head. Life is good. If just for this one moment, life is good. It is so easy for me to forget all these beautiful, little moments when I am in the haze of expectations and deadlines. Even trying to figure out what I was going to write today got me all up in my feelings. What a silly man I am. How easy is it for us to get caught up in the dark moments, in the fog of life, to let the stress and anxiety become your normal? To give into the lie that everything in life is difficult and painful. We catalog all the hard things, then forget all these beautiful moments in between. A good meal with our family. A conversation with a co-worker. A moment of clarity in prayer or contemplation. Life has hard moments, but there are so many blessings I miss while I bemoan my burdens.
I think this is one of the reasons God continually commands the Israelites to remember. It is ridiculous how easily we forget God’s goodness to us. We get on the Israelites for forgetting the Red Sea, yet I get stressed out about finances two months after God worked a miracle. I just want to shake myself or palm my forehead, “Remember, Remember, Remember!” But I won’t. I’ll still believe I am alone. I’ll still stress over where that $5,000 is going to come from. I’ll still whine and moan and say “Woe is me” when I am having a hard couple of days. “Why is it always me? Why does God allow this?” As if he isn’t right beside me. As if he hasn’t come through every time. What do I do then? Will I ever remember…
Maybe I won’t, but for now, I will record these beautiful moments. I will thank God for the small blessings. Mountain top moments are few and far between. Often we are just walking through small peaks and valleys. Yet, in that walking, there are days like today. So I’ll savor them. Not just savor them, but remember them. I’ll remember them on the day that I am exhausted, beaten, and worn down. I’ll remember them on the day that my responsibilities far outweigh my capacity. There may not be a mountain top coming, a moment of pure ecstasy and clarity. However, tomorrow I might be sitting in a recliner, drinking ice water, watching my kids run around, and I might think to myself, “life is good.”
-NR
