He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the
earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they
will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they
will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end" (Hebrews
1:10-12).
Like so much else, memories tend to fade. We try so hard
to keep them from doing so. For as things seem to change and appear to never be as they
once were, we long to cling to that which once brought us joy and happiness. We long to
keep alive that which has given us so much to make life worth living. Though the days come
and go, and we have no control over what tomorrow will bring--it is so very hard to let go
of that which has always been our most cherished times of this life.
I remember Christmas time as a child: getting together with relatives, playing with my
cousins, pestering my aunts and uncles and sitting on Grandparent’s laps. So many
good memories are rooted in what I knew I could expect when family came together. From one
gathering to the next, there seemed to be certain things that I knew I could always depend
on. But those things did not last.
I remember my first time going home after I had moved out of the house I had grown up in.
It felt so odd--not at all like home to me. I was with my family, and was able to see old
friends, yet something never seemed quite the same from that time on. It was as though I
was being forced to let go of some things that I was not sure I was quite ready to let go
of. I had no choice but to accept it and move on.
It seems this life is full of change. Some that is welcomed change and some that is not.
Hard as it is for us, we know that there are some things we must accept. There is change
that happens that we have to face as much as it hurts us to do so.
But God is able to help us. And though we cannot relive the past, we do not have to forget
it. We can find a way through God’s strength to hold onto our fond memories and
treasure them in our hearts; while at the same time not allowing those memories (that
cannot be as they once were) to steal our joy and cripple our spiritual stride. We can
reflect on the warmth of what was, while maintaining a hope for what will be.
In many large and little ways, we can become prisoners of the past. We long for times that
we have held dear. We wish with all our hearts that some things could be as they once
were. And yet, those moments will never be the same, and if we cannot let go and accept
that fact, we will remain prisoners to some degree. But God has not given us the good so
that we shall be prisoners to it once it is gone. He gives us many good and wonderful
things, much of which is only for a season. And while some things are harder to let go of
that others, we must not let what we cannot have, erase what we have already been given.
We must instead remember the gift that we were allowed to embrace--even if only for a
short and seemingly fleeting time.
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