Choosing Our Memories

Over the past year, I have heard a lot of ideas about how we will remember this season in our global history. For most of us, this is the first time that we have experienced a pandemic, and there have been plenty of musings about whether our collective recollection will be filled with masks, lockdowns, and missed opportunities. What has often been neglected in these discussions is that, as with any other season, each of us can choose what our memories will be. Of course, there is much that is outside of our control; we can’t control who we lost to the virus or how it devastated the health of some, while seeming to barely impact others. Most of us have no way of impacting government mandates or solving backlogs in supply chains. Few of us will play a direct role in how the pandemic ends and it is likely that we will have a relatively limited impact on the way society moves forward. However, we do have a choice about where we center our thoughts. We can choose to spend our days acknowledging what God has given us, or on focusing on what we desired, but didn’t get. We can choose to dread situations outside our control, or choose to rely on the One who is sovereign over all. We can let fear dictate our feelings, or we can choose love and grace despite the circumstances that we face. Our memories are formed based on what we fixed our minds on, and for the Christian, they should strive to always focus their thoughts on God.

When I look back on the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be hard for me to think about it without thinking of sourdough bread. Early on during the stay-at-home order, I learned how to make it thanks to the generosity and patient coaching of some friends. While I originally thought my sourdough career would be rather short-lived, I have continued to bake it for the past 12 months. It started as a pandemic past time but has quickly grown in significance. It has become a means for blessing others and a way to demonstrate care for those inside my home as it is now one of my kids’ favorite after-school snacks. It has been evidence of God’s goodness, as I have obtained the necessary ingredients to keep it going, even when grocery store shelves seemed to be bare. It has been a lesson in patience, in planning, in creativity, and in trust as I am never sure what the outcome will be until many hours of prep time have already been spent. The snapshots of this season may be filled with loaves, but when I bring those memories to mind, they are filled with reminders of God’s kindness and grace. And if something as inconsequential as a loaf of bread can generate memories of God’s goodness to us, there is very little else that can’t. Our job is to choose to focus our attention on what God is doing, rather than on what He’s not.

When looking back on this time, or any other season of life, the challenge is remembering that the external circumstances don’t get to define what the season signifies to us. We can choose to interpret seasons in light of Who God is, because we know that while seasons change, He does not. We can commit to grow in our trust of Him despite the difficulties, rather than allowing our confidence to be swallowed by the uncertainty of the moment. Our memories are formed based on what we dedicate our attention to and what is important to us. We can choose how we will remember this season by fixing our eyes on Him and seeing Him working through the joys and the pain. If we do so, our memories of this time will be replete with reminders that no matter what we go through, our God is greater than any season we face and faithful in every one of them.

Continue Reading

Into the Storm

Like most people, I expend regular effort to avoid knowingly difficult situations. I plan my commute around when I think the freeways will be less crowded. I establish my family’s schedule to allow for plenty of rest, increasing the likelihood of household harmony. I proactively manage my commitments, my finances, and my relationships to help ensure that what unpleasantness I can conscientiously avoid, I do. 

Despite this effort, challenges still come my way, as I imagine they do also for you. Although the world may tell us that this is an indication that my efforts are failing, as a Christian I know that is not necessarily the case. After all, as has often been said, God’s goal for His kids is not their happiness but their holiness. Just as my children may sometimes think I am intentionally making their lives difficult by compelling them to work out their differences on their own or to do the tasks that they are assigned, what may seem like unnecessary obstacles to us, may be God working through our circumstances to bring about His desires – namely that His children increasingly rely on and emulate Jesus Christ.

This is a reality that we see throughout Scripture. When Jesus’ disciples found themselves on a boat in the middle of the storm while Jesus contently slept, it may have looked like they weren’t in the right place.  I imagine that as the waves tossed them and the boat was damaged, the disciples may have wondered if they had made a mistake. Perhaps, they should have paid more attention to the forecast or secured a sturdier vessel. And while all this may have been going through their minds, Matthew 8:23 tells us that it wasn’t the disciples who made the decision about when to go or even what boat they would use. It says that Jesus “got into the boat, [and] his disciples followed him.” Jesus selected the time and means of their departure; the only One who could control the storm, intentionally led them into it.

Such is true in our own walk with God. God could create smoother roads and lead us by still waters, but sometimes, His will is for us to walk in the dark valleys. This is not because He delights in putting us in difficult situations, but because He knows that what He will accomplish through those situations is a far greater good than what will be accomplished without them. He leads us into the storm because he knows that as we are faced with what we can’t control, our reliance and dependence on Him are prone to grow.  Our deepened faith makes us more useful for His Kingdom – which should be the desire and aim of each one of His kids. While this should not prompt us to go looking for trouble or cause us to fail to recognize that sometimes unpleasantness is the natural outcome of our sin, it does mean that if we are following our Savior and doing what He commands, we need not fear what we face.  He will never lead us where He doesn’t intend for us to be.

The disciples probably didn’t anticipate a raging storm when they stepped into the boat that day; what they knew, however, was they had followed Christ into it. When we face our own storms, may we also be able to confidently attest that although we didn’t anticipate the difficulties, we are faithfully following where our Savior leads. If that is the case, we need not fear the turbulent waves; the One who is able to calm the storm is with us in the boat.

Continue Reading