Creating Memorials Helps Us See Who We are Becoming
I went exploring last week. I was privileged to attend a church conference with my sweet Pastor husband in North Carolina, so I took advantage of the opportunity to discover a new place. Gleefully, I pulled my honey along on a history scavenger hunt in Asheville.
Asheville has an Urban Trail. You can find it online at https://www.exploreasheville.com/urban-trail/. The site provides maps showing where in downtown Asheville you can discover markers of remembrance. The various statues, buildings and monuments describe its history and culture, honoring those who influenced their town or who accomplished some sort of first. Asheville has figured out who they are as a destination point because they value their past.
Adventuring, Memorials and the Children of Israel
My delightful morning adventuring got me thinking of memorials and remembering, which led me to think about the children of Israel. In the book of Joshua, the children of Israel cross the Jordan River to conquer the Promised Land. God provides dry ground for them to pass from one side to the other, just like He did when He parted the Red Sea.
“Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan, their feet touched the water at its edge and the water flowing downstream stood still rising up in a mass. . . and the people crossed opposite Jericho. The Priests carrying the ark of the Lord’s covenant stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”
Joshua 3:15-17
The Egyptians weren’t chasing the Israelites this time, so the children of Israel weren’t in a rush to escape. God wanted them to remember what He was doing for them; He didn’t want them to forget His provision when the plenty He was promising them filled their lives. In Joshua chapter 4, God gives instructions to Joshua about building a memorial to remember this event.
“So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe, and said to them, ‘Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes, so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean to you?” you should tell them, “The water of the Jordan was cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan the Jordan’s water was cut off.” Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.’ “
Joshua 4:4-7
The children of Israel were to remember because their past helped define who they were to be.
Our Past, Our Stories and Our Becoming
Our pasts reveal much about us. When we allow others into our stories, generating a more detailed picture of who we are, we are illustrating what has helped to define us. Would you know me better if you knew I grew up as the youngest of five children whose father was a pastor of a small Kansas church? What would you decide about me if I informed you my mom worked full time as a very accomplished nurse, administrator, and leader in the nursing profession? Would your picture of me alter when cancer in the stories of my sisters, both my parents and one of my grandparents colors my story? How would you shade your image of me if you heard of my battle with depression?
There are stories and journeys in our histories that we often don’t tell because they don’t create a happy memorial on the trail of our lives. We only want to give a picture of the best things that have taken place. The reality is both the good and the bad, our successes and failures, form who we are.
God wants us to remember how He has shown up in our pasts, defining who we are becoming.
Memorials: A Trail of the Goodness and Grace of God
Asheville, North Carolina’s story continues to capture me. We didn’t have time to discover every treasure on the Urban Trail, but the images I snapped with my phone are reminding my soul I have more to uncover in my own story. The Holy Spirit is nudging my heart to identify memorials in my life so I can see how God has been forming me. He wants me to grasp who He is defining me to be.
He’s nudging me to nudge you as well. What in your story do you tend to hide or pass over? What does God want to speak to you concerning that part of your past? Is there a memory you tend to honor more than the One who provided the memory? Is there someone you need to invite into your story?
We are complex people, and our stories are powerful. They provide a trail of the goodness and grace of God. We must create memorials that remind ourselves and others that our pasts reveal all that God is enabling us to become.
May the lives we live bring glory to God.
I’m praying for you.
Thanksgiving time usually is a time I spend remembering the past and all I have to be thankful for in my life. My past has been marked by God’s gracious grace extended to me even as a small child. I felt His presence and pulling on my heart. I was blessed to have parents that took us to church and Sunday school and created a loving home. My dad was a farmer and thus I have a love for the rural community and if I could have, would have chosen to raise my family in such a place. But it was not to be for us. My mom was a full time homemaker and worked along side my dad. Thus I was always drawn to be a full time homemaker. I never did have a yearning for some other career. At times through the years I’ve had to battle the views that only career women were of value. I was the 3rd of 4 children. I grew up in a very small school with only 15 in my graduating class but the school, the community was the backbone of many families that shared “community” with each other. I lost my dad to a brain tumor when I was 22. It deeply grieved me that he would never be there to be a grandpa to my kids. Those marker of time and “stones of remembering” include God’s faithfulness to my mom widowed at 48. So that is just a touch of my life but like I said, Thanksgiving for me is a time to look back and be thankful for every “stone” that reminds me of God’s touch and grace in my life. It is good to remember!!
Karen, you continue to amaze me with the nuggets of your story that you drop here and there. What a wonderful group of stones you have shared. Thank you. I’ve been singing the song, “I will sing of the Goodness of God” over and over. It was sung this past week at the conference Tim and I were blessed to attend. It speaks my heart’s longing that regardless of the memorials I mark, God’s goodness will be what shines forth.