“Now I Have a Memory!”
Special Gratitude Edition
Guest Post by Kim Cope
My husband and I visited our son and his family in Colorado Springs a few weeks ago. While we were there, I bought a sweatshirt with the word “Colorado” thickly embroidered across the chest in purple thread. When I came out of the bedroom wearing my new shirt, my eight-year-old grandson Fynn touched one of the letters and asked if he could write the word. I pulled the shirt away from my chest so that he could write it. He carefully traced each letter with his finger. When he got through, he said “Now I have a memory.” Aww! My heart melted.
When I got back home and thought about that sweet encounter with Fynn, I realized that’s what I do every morning. I write down every gift that the Lord has given me the day before and then – voilà - “I have a memory!” Should I ever doubt that God loves me and keeps His eye on me, I have dozens of gratitude journals filled with memories to remind me otherwise.
From my very first gift I wrote in a small Mary Engelbreit notebook on April 23, 2011, to the last one I wrote in my journal today, I have thousands of memories of God’s faithfulness, His kindness, and His goodness. There are memories to remind me that God’s thoughts are better than my thoughts and His ways are better than my ways. Journals filled with memories of beauty, joy, laughter, even ashes and tears. I wonder if God’s heart is touched when I make a memory and seal it with a “thank You, Lord” or “I’m so grateful.”
I love this C.S. Lewis quote: “We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country."
In Exodus 17:1, after a hard fought battle against Amalek, God tells Moses to write about this victory on a scroll because it’s something to be remembered. A memory!
In the middle of writing this story, I sat down on the floor and pulled out a half a dozen of my old gratitude journals. WOW! The memories absolutely blessed my socks off and booted a bout of discouragement out the door! Looking through those written memories gave me hope that I needed THAT day. The assurance that I’m never alone. Memories of repairs and healings. Thanksgiving for being able to bless someone and someone blessing us. I stood up with my faith recharged and my heart filled with hope and peace.
I will always remember Fynn “writing” on my Colorado shirt and saying he made a memory - because it’ s blessing number 44,394 in my latest journal. Thanks for the lesson, Fynn!
