Monday, September
3, 2018
When a couple has been together for a long time there are memories
that are priceless; there are a few that make the top ten of all time. Two make my bottom ten of all
time, because they point up just how fleeting is the strength of youth.
I was sitting at my desk at home finishing up a long Thursday
session grappling with a sermon. My
thoughts began to shift to Friday and yard chores, and the mess in the garage
that still had to be straightened out.
The mess was from some rearranging of the rooms of our house – this
furniture now there – that furniture put away – and a donation pile in the
garage for The Salvation Army. Suddenly
I had the uneasy thought that I couldn’t remember what Elizabeth had done with
the oak dining table – had we sold it?
Was it packed away? I mean, how
do you conceal a 12-foot long oak table that weighs 9 zillion pounds? Then it came back – I was sitting
at the dining table; we had renamed it the desk! Memory and eyesight…boy how I miss them!
Then two weeks ago the shoe got laced up on the other foot. We had just come home from shopping and I was
at the desk…again…and I heard Elizabeth’s urgent call from the
kitchen: Hon, come here, quick! Well, it had an urgency, but not emergency,
so I didn’t run, but now I wish I’d brought a camera. Arriving in the kitchen I didn’t get a chance
to ask a question before Elizabeth provided the answer (when has that
ever happened before?) She blurted: We’ve got a frog in the kitchen! Well, at least it wasn’t a snake!
I looked where my bride was pointing and began to reach down to
escort the toad to the back yard, and stopped short. I looked back at Elizabeth and said, really? Her brow furrowed up and she pointed….FROG! She didn’t understand my grin, until I picked
up the frog-looking wadded-up brown paper napkin that had slipped off the counter
and was hiding under the chair impersonating a frog.
Now, my dear wife of 51½ years can spot a dust bunny under a bed from
50 yards at midnight with the lights off, but when a napkin becomes an
amphibious invader, it is time to get that cataract surgery scheduled!
Memory and Eyesight…we’re a sight to behold…and not to be
forgotten.
This was exactly Moses’ point when he gathered all of God’s
children together to recount for them the history they’d lived since leaving
Egyptian bondage. His speech was laced
with warnings to never, never, never
forget the great things God had done for them.
They were to dwell in that praise, remembering every day, and teaching
it to the next generation. If there’s a good
obsession, this was it…NEVER FORGET!
For You Today
You cannot help moving into the eighth decade of life…my wife and
I are now firmly into that stage, encountering the frail nature of our human
nature. These bodies, along with minds
that sometimes have to hunt extra hard for missing pieces of the puzzle, are an
annoyance we must endure.
But the bonus of a lifetime of the good
obsession of being immersed in the things of God is knowing with
assurance that God never forgets, and His eyesight never dims. He’s got the sparrow…and that means He’s got
us too!
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