Memories from an Old Green Shirt
I went into my closet to get dressed this morning and I chose a hunter green corduroy button down shirt that I’ve owned for at least 20 years. Every time I wear it, I think of a picture that Molly took of my daughter Alli and me in an apple orchard in New Jersey, when Alli was about 3 years old. Alli still has the picture on a nightstand beside her bed in our house. It’s one of my favorite pictures and memories (See attached). It takes me back to the time when our kids were so young and innocent. We were relatively new parents, and our kids were amazed at everything they saw in the world. I love my shirt because it’s soft, warm and comfortable, but it’s just a shirt. The picture is what makes the shirt valuable and sentimental to me.
Sometimes we plan to make memories. My father used to record the 5 boys coming down the stairs to open presents on Christmas morning. He had an 8MM camera with a light attachment so bright that my retinas are still burned. We hire professional photographers and videographers to record events likes weddings and anniversary parties, so we will never forget. Other times, a smell or a sight can instantly transport us back to a place and time where something good happened a long time ago. A picture in an apple orchard can create an unintended memory that will last a lifetime. We cherish these memories because of their sentimental value, and because when we look back over the course of our lives, most days are uneventful and unmemorable. The uniqueness of a memorable day or moment stands in stark contrast to the regularity and similarity of the rest of our days.
We know from reading the Bible that memories were very important. After God protected Israel from the plague of death on the firstborn of Egypt, God established the Passover feast, so Israel would never forget how God delivered them. When God stopped the Jordan River so the Israelites cross to the promised land, Joshua commanded them to set up 12 stones on the river’s edge to remind them and all the future generations of Israel what happened there. God intended that the whole nation of Israel remember what He had done.
But sometimes God encounters us personally, and creates memories of His goodness that are just for us. I remember going for a walk many years ago when we still lived in New Jersey and I was still a new believer. I felt the presence of God with me on that day in a very unique way. There wasn’t anything special about the day or the walk, except for God’s presence. I remember in 2010, when Molly and I were visiting seminaries and trying to decide where God wanted us to move. We visited other seminaries, but when we visited the campus in Dallas, we both KNEW at the same time that Dallas was where God wanted us. When God wants to speak to us, He can do it in spectacular ways, like saving Israel from plagues, or parting rivers. But He can also encourage us in a “still small voice”, like He spoke to Elijah in 1 Kings 19 after Elijah ran for his life from wicked Queen Jezebel. God was not in the wind, or the earthquake or the fire that was all around Elijah that day. God simply whispered to Elijah. Elijah was a new man armed with the memory of how God spoke to him personally.
There is so much noise in the world that if we aren’t looking and listening for God, we might easily miss Him. But if we are attuned to Him, He may speak to us at any moment and create memories of His presence and His providence that will last a lifetime. He may not part a sea for us, but He will speak to us in ways that show us that He is present and in control of the circumstances of our lives if we will be aware. God can make an unmemorable day memorable, significant and sentimental to us just by our awareness of His abiding presence. Our memories of God’s presence in small things reassures us that He is with us in all things.
