How do we sort through our memories… the good and the
bad?
How do we cope with the events in our life… the happy
and the sad?
Do you ever feel God stirring your heart as you sort
and cope in an effort to put one foot in front of the other?
I’m a bit surprised at what God seemed to whisper in
my heart through memories as I watched a movie while we had the windows on our
home replaced…
He walks around with a carpenter’s pencil in his
mouth. His tools are familiar to me. He works hard and it’s obvious he takes
pride in his work. Skilled in his craft, something tugs at my heart. He
whistles while he works and I can’t help but smile.
We’re having our windows replaced in an effort to save
money (as well as avoid further water damage to our basement). Rather than pack
everything needed to complete the project only to unpack it again the next day,
the men working on our house left all the materials and equipment in our garage
overnight. When I opened the door from our house to the garage this morning, it
stopped me dead in my tracks.
Nothing was wrong. Everything was right where it was
supposed to be. There weren’t any strange animals in sight. What I saw was what
is in this picture: a table saw; construction horses; ladders; and power tools as well as stacked lumber, waiting
to be used as trim for our windows… Mixed with the smell of sawdust, I felt a
lump swell up in my throat… I couldn’t contain the emotions and wondered why
they hit in that very moment.
Growing up, this picture was commonplace in our home.
My dad was a carpenter, running his own business out of our childhood home
built with his hands. One side of our house held a half-court-sized room with a
basketball hoop in it. While we called it the “gym”, it served more as my
father’s garage/tool shed. In an effort to make a space big enough to shoot
3-point shots, we had to push dad’s tools and supplies off to the edges of the
room…
I’m certain the mix of emotions with this scene as
well as the ones connected to the stranger in my home were connected to the familiar
memories of my daddy. The sadness I used to feel over the loss of my dad has
subsided over time… It’s been almost 7 years and I’ve wrestled with a lot of
emotions over that time. There are so many memories that flood my mind and
heart and each one requires sorting and searching and giving them to Jesus.
My dad loved me. I know this. And yet, honestly, my
dad was flawed. He didn’t love me perfectly. There is a lot of pain in my heart
over the memories that thread through my life. At the same time, the fact that
my dad loved me is the core of what allows me to miss him as well as make sense
of the bad memories that intermingle the good ones. With the truth of my dad’s
love for me, I’m able to make peace with every memory I’m left to work through
without him.
As I write this, I’m watching the movie, Ragamuffin:The True Story of Rich Mullins. At the point in this songwriter’s story that
he decided to go to Nashville, he sang “Jesus Loves Me”. God whispered to my
heart that this was the point of my sorting through these thoughts on my blog
this morning.
Just as I work through memories of my dad and my
childhood with the firm knowledge that he loved me, I’m learning that this is
what matters. Not so much that my daddy loved me… but that Jesus loves me; God
loves me. My Heavenly Father loves me.
As I cope with all the thoughts in my mind, I realize
it applies to the way I attempt to manage my life. Every detail of my world
needs to be filtered with this one unchanging fact: My Heavenly Father loves
me. That never changes. EVERYTHING is centered on God’s love for me. And unlike
the memories of my dad, God is with me as I work through the hard times and
good times of this life.
This is where I find peace. This is where you can find
peace. This is where our world finds peace. This is the answer: Jesus loves me.
This I know.
Do you know the depth of Christ’s love for you? Get a copy of
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you
with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts
as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you
strong. And may you have the power to understand, as
all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though
it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all
the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” – Ephesians 3:16-19
No comments:
Post a Comment