Faith Through the Journey

This time of year is full of so many memories of family highlights. For every proud moment, there is within my mother’s heart a mixture of pride, gratitude and so many memories of times in the lives of my children that are funny and poignant. Today is my daughter and son-in-law’s first anniversary, and of course I can’t help but think back on the celebration last year with so many family and friends. May has also brought graduations for eight consecutive years, including high school, college and graduate school graduations within our family. Our youngest child will turn 22 this week as well, and as a mom it’s really painful not to be with her on her birthday–after all, she has spent more time with me than anyone else! We were together from the start of her life, and as with all moms, I remember a thousand things about her life that are special to me. We’re so proud of her as she works this summer at an internship that will complete her college coursework, and graduation in August will be a great day.

When I begin to feel sentimental about the kids and their lives and accomplishments, I think about Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Luke, the Bible says that Mary pondered (kept and guarded) events in the life of her Son, probably allowing herself to remember those significant times throughout His life. In her heart, she knew from the moment He was conceived what His life would be.  Perhaps knowing how short His earthly life would be, those memories were a definite mix of joy and pain for Mary. There are so many times in my childrens’ lives that I just want to take mental “freeze frames” so that I can always remember events just as they happen.

Of course, life goes on and we can’t sit and live on memories. If all we had were highlights in our lives, they wouldn’t seem like highlights for long. My mother-in-law loved to reminisce, and over the years as she aged, her memories would give her many hours of happiness. Memories are made on ordinary days, too. Every one of our days is a gift, and we never know what any given day will hold for us. There are days we would all like to forget, I know! We wonder why we even bothered getting out of bed those mornings! Psalm 139 tells us that all of our days were written before one of them ever came to be. What an incredible truth! The milestones and the routine days are both necessary and good for us.

If I am allowed many more years on earth, I know that there will be more special days and many more routine ones. Each of them has first passed before my Heavenly Father, so I can be confident that they are exactly what is right for me on that day. However, I also take delight in the fact that I have so many special memories that I can pull out and ponder at any time during the course of those “ordinary” days!