“Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always. Remember the wonders He has done.” ~I Chronicles 16: 11 – 12
On our first missions trip, many moons ago… okay it was exactly 17 years ago next month, I started a little tradition all my own. We landed in Greece, in route to India, where we spent a week in the quaintest little apartment that belonged to the son of a pastor friend. The outdoor balconies so mixed in with the hallways of the home that, unlike in America, they are included as part of your living space. It’s is truly delightful! Covering the cement walls were flowers of all different kinds & I especially fell in love with the aroma of jasmine. Oh, my! Now, that must be a foretaste of what Heaven smells like.
When we went to leave that amazing spot, I plucked a flower from the bush & pressed it between the pages of my Bible. Well, that continued from country to country & from favorite spot to favorite spot. The pages of my Bible became full of pressed flowers. I must confess, to keep them from falling out I squeezed most of them in the books like Job & Leviticus, which I don’t quite frequent as often.
For me, they have become memorials. Reminders of where God has carried us & difficulties that have sprung forth into victories. Though not always easy at the crossings, the children of Israel did the same. They would build memorials to God, like in Deut 27 after they had crossed the Jordan into the Land God had promised. This remind them, & their children to come, of His great faithfulness. I guess they knew, God knows, that we all need reminded of His faithfulness.
The perfect example of this is found in Mt 15, you remember at the feeding of the multitude the second time. Well, He had already done it once and amazed them all! In the first account there were just five loaves & two fish. Once Jesus prayed over it & blessed it, well, the baskets never ran empty! You would think they would remember this the next time that they came to the same situation but, like we often all do, they were again wondering how the multitude would be fed!
Sound familiar? He has brought us through some event in life & then years later we stand at the same place wondering how we will get to the other side. Build a monument today! Do something to remind you of His great faithfulness! Put a petal in your page, snap a picture or write a journal. We simply need to be reminded that the one who was faithful before will be faithful again!