Remember

This weekend our country will celebrate Memorial Day-- a day created to remember those who “fell in the line of duty” for our freedom but has also become a day to have cookouts, go to the beach, have family time, etc. All of that is good and it would be great if I could sit under an umbrella staring out to waves licking a sandy shore of some island get away but I am getting ready to go to a funeral…so it really will be a day of memory for me. One of my favorite aunts went home to see Jesus face to face last night! Aunt Bonnie was one of a kind!!! She was this California-raised girl’s first introduction to a true Southern lady…one who never went without her nails being done or her hair being colored. (At 88 years old, she still had “natural” hair color--a lesson I will take to heart!) She introduced me to the phrase, “Shut your mouth!” which I discovered really didn’t mean to get quiet. Eating at her house always included at least 3 meat choices with all the “necessary” compliments and came with the insistence that we eat lots!! She loved people and remembered everything about them. She loved me and I loved her! I will miss her very much.

Funny thing about memories…they take us to places we haven’t thought about for years…some bring laughter while others bring pain but they all are a part of what we have become. Some bring us back to where we need to be…the grounding memories. Aunt Bonnie never had a lot of worldly things…she wasn’t an educated person…she lived very simply…but she was the happiest person I had ever met…her concern was always about others…I felt at home with her because there was no pretending. What she felt, she said and she made me laugh because she never took herself too seriously. She knew who she was and modeled for me what Christ said about how we ought to live our lives…and how far I have gotten away from that in my own life.

To be honest I am trying to avoid the scripture God keeps bringing to my mind but I can’t. Revelation 2:4-5 “Yet I hold this against you; you have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”

This brings a different thought for my Memorial Day this year—not only to remember fallen soldiers or favorite aunts but to remember who I was before Christ came into my life and how He died for my absolute freedom. I sometimes forget how much He has done for me and I just go about my life. I don’t want my Savior to say that He has anything against me…so this weekend as I remember the life of my precious aunt…I also will remember that I will see her again because of Christ. I will remember that He has given me abundant life. As I see the flags flying, I will remember that His banner over me is love… I will remember how far I have come because of this love! I will remember! How about you?