by Larry Magnuson
This past week as we have been doing some organization around the house, I took on the project of going through old pictures. The photographs went back to our wedding in 1975 and carried on until the digital era. As many of you know, Barbara loves to take photos so there were literally thousands of them! We did a lot of laughing! Some of the clothes we were wearing – what were we thinking?!
The pictures brought back so many memories. Pictures of our family and the wonderful times we had across the years reminded us of how blessed we have been. Oh there have been hard days – many of those were captured as well. Like the final days of Barbara’s mom’s life or leaving our family and friends in Minnesota to move to Colorado. But in it all we recognized again how good God has been and how He has directed the steps of our lives. It was good to remember!
Over and over again on the pages of Scripture we are called “to remember.” I have been taking some extra time recently to read through the Bible again. It has been a rich time. One thing that stood out to me was how often God called his people to remember. To remember His faithfulness, His times of deliverance, His promises, and so much more. Yet time after time the Israelites failed to take the energy and invest the time to remember. And time after time they drifted away into idolatry and sin. The result was disastrous, yet the pattern continued generation after generation. Every time God’s people took the time to remember, to repent and to return, was when they found life and hope and joy again.
It is a good discipline for all of us – to take time regularly to remember!