Have you ever thought about how strange the holiday season is? We celebrate Thanksgiving as nature finishes to die. We keep Christmas as winter makes everything cold and hard, as if trying to erase better days from our memory. Yet, during Thanksgiving, we fill our tables with the fruits of the harvest and on Christmas, we light up the cold darkness with multi-color lights and hang fruits from a tree. Why? Because we keep memory. We remember a good harvest and lively days. In the Old Testament, God asks Israel countless times to remember who He is and what He has done for them. Remember Egypt? Remember how I freed you from your bondage? Remember as if your life depends on it, lest you become tempted to return to it. Keep on remembering, lest you grow discouraged and forget how I’ve cared for you in the past! Simply put, so that you remember my love for you and my power.
Remembering isn’t only a thing to do between us and God. It is also a good exercise for our human relationships. When I remember yesterday’s date with my bride, I can better handle today’s grumpy disagreement. When I remember my joy when seeing my daughters for the first time, I can endure the long, difficult parenting days. When I remember my country's history, and the countless sacrifices of many to keep it a land of freedom and opportunity, I can better endure politically stormy days. Keeping memory, about the good, the bad and the ugly, is the best way to grow up and cultivate love. The problem is, keeping memory is often most needed when frustration, disagreement, rejection and anger make it particularly hard to do so.
How do you overcome the difficulty of remembering better days in the dead of your relational winter? I am still trying to figure it out. However, I believe Thanksgiving and Christmas show us the way forward, anticipating nature’s resurrection as it gives its last, seasonal, breath. When my neighbor becomes my enemy, let me seek common ground for fellowship and joy. When the light of reconciliation and healing seems to flicker out, let me anticipate the better days God promises us. Let me look forward in hope that, even though our hearts may be turning hard and cold, they are not out of God’s reach. Keeping memory of God’s love and action in our lives, and in history, nourishes our hope that He will continue being and doing tomorrow what He has been and done in the past.
This Veteran’s Day, keep memory to strengthen your love for a country and a community that, imperfect as it may be, lifts up Christ like love and Christ like freedom as the destination of our nation’s story. At The end of the year, keep memory to strengthen your hope that God will bring resurrection into your life. Prepare the feast. Light up the dark. Practice hope. Remember.
