Decided today to visit memories.
Started by listening. Listened to Marc Cohn music. Then listened to more of Kate Bowler’s book, “No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear.” I visited their memories in my mind.
Later I visited the small town where I was born.
What did I remember? Life. It includes wounds, scars. It includes joy, laughter. It includes people and places and things. It includes seasons. Seasons which hurry in, then rush away.
What did I remember? Death. Actually, deaths. Of many. Many friends. Many family members.
I wanted to talk today to Mama and Pops. But Carolyn and Bill Maxwell are enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving in that home where there’s much to rejoice about.
I wrote them a note anyway. I don’t expect them to read it. Writing to them was therapy for me as I remembered Thanksgivings and Christmases and aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and food and ball games played and ball games watched and cold winter weather and my wife and kids and grandchildren and grandparents and in-laws.
Then?
A train played its music, reminding me of growing up near the track and hearing that percussion. 
A yard looked so tiny, many decades after it felt very large. 
A house appeared empty, though my mind had it packed full of conversations, meals, laughter, and family. 
A cemetery, with no one else walking around, just me and memories.
Visiting the memories. A day before Thanksgiving for a day of remembering, of reflecting, of giving thanks. I’m glad I visited what, and who, I visited today.
This is a good reminder to give thanks no matter what has happened in my life. To be thankful that the old is gone and new things are coming to pass. Sometimes I miss the old days and let that distract me from what God is doing now and what He will do. This was very good.
This is a very meaning post! I loved how it was so personally which can relate to so many different people especially through the holidays. Even when things are not the way we would want them sometimes, we can still be so thankful for what we do have because of the peace and hope that Jesus gives us. Today and everyday I want to strive to be more thankful!
I love how vulnerable you are in some of your blog posts. It shows us that we do not have to hide some of the painful parts of life, but that we can be real with others and encourage them through our stories. I am so happy that you are willing to share your heart and be real to us!
Everytime I go back home to Arizona I take a drive to my old neighborhood where I spent my early childhood at. I too find it to be smaller many years later, it felt larger than life but it was just an average yard. Visiting the park where I played little league helps me enjoy the time spent playing baseball with friends and family there to watch. It is always good to reflect and think back to those times and be thankful for what we have and what we’ve become. Thanks for sharing this!
I love how you formatted this. This is a great reminder to be thankful for everything.
I know how you feel Pastor to a certain extent I have a childhood home back in Alabama which I’ve gone back and visited many times. Every time I go there I think about the memories that were made in that house, the sleepovers, birthdays, and time spent with Mom and Dad. Some of the best years of my life were spent in that house. I’m grateful to Jesus for the time I had there.
I know all too well the feeling when something is so much smaller than you remember it. It’s much like life. Like we say, even when something happens that stops your world, the rest of the world does not stop moving. In that way, we are smaller than we realize. And that can be hard sometimes.
I appreciate you addressing this during this time. For some, the holidays are the best times of the year – for others, a reminder of the hurt. Thank you for addressing the side of the holidays that people don’t want to talk about. More often than not families are hurting during this time; whether it’s lost relatives, estranged relations, etc. someone’s always got something.
Remembering can be hard, but it is often so healing. The holidays are hard because of remembering. We must allow ourselves to remember, to grieve, and to choose to celebrate the way those lost would have wanted us to.
I cannot imagine being without my parents on any holiday much less Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the holidays and I love all the conversations, the noise from my nephews playing, and I love the food so not having my family around for the holidays is something I can’t and I don’t want to imagine. I stand with those who are hurting and trying to heal around these times of supposed joy and laughter. I pray for anyone who has lost a family member(s) and is not with them during the holiday season. I pray that they will mourn and grieve how they need to, but also leave room for healing and find joy in the simple things around them.