FLOODING MEMORIES
FLOODING MEMORIES
Who would have thought I would be crying with heart felt tears, watching the Thanksgiving parade? The float had the group “Chicago” on it and they were singing “You’re the Inspiration.” Some of the words to the song are “You know our love was meant to be, the kind of love that lasts forever, and I want you here with me, from tonight until the end of time, you should know, everywhere I go, always on my mind, in my heart, in my soul…” That was the song my husband had dedicated to me, of how he felt towards me. The last ten years of his life, he was not the same man I had married, but that song was still how he felt towards me.
When do those types of memories flood into your mind? Usually, every year that I put the ornaments on my tree, I shed a few tears because memories flood back into my mind. My tree is made up of memories. I usually try to buy an ornament that represents each particular year. One is a Santa holding a ski and a cast on his leg. That was the year that I broke my ankle and my mother did too. I have an ornament that has a picture of my grandmother, reading a book at Christmas time to four of my grandkids. She was an amazing woman, who my daughter got to know really well and even named her oldest daughter, Opal, after her. I also have an ornament that shows my husband dressed as Santa. He loved to go to Boy Scout meetings dressed up and hand out presents. He even was Santa at the Walmart he was working at the time. He said the only time he did not like being Santa, was when a little child threw up on him. (That was fun to wash!) I have an ornament of my mother and the year she died on it. Memories flood back into my heart. She was an amazing mother! And then there is the ornament, with my dog’s face on it. She died a few months after my mother did. After my mother passed away and my dad downsized, my brother and I went through each closet and cabinet getting things ready for him to move. I now have so many things that remind me of her and both of my grandmother’s. What a blessing to have beautiful handmade quilts and ceramic keepsakes from both of them.
Maybe, if you bought ornaments for your tree that represented something that happened to you in that year, they would not be pleasant and would cause bad memories. Memories of hard times. Maybe you did not have a parent that raised you to be a Christian or they were one who raised you with abuse. It is time to change those memories you are making now and in the future.
I have been through some rough times. Those memories, when they flood into my mind and soul are sad but yet now, I can see how God used them and is using them through my writings and speeches I present. Those hardships made me the strong Christian woman I am today, who wants to serve the Lord with the rest of my life. We need to have those hard memories so that we can wash them clean of the pain that filled our hearts. We all have good and bad memories. Sometimes they flood into our minds without even knowing that they are coming. Something will happen or we see or hear something, and there the memories flood our hearts, like they happened yesterday.
Do you ever feel melancholy? Do you get buried into your mind thinking about the past? We all do, don’t we? When those hard times flood our minds, we need to replace them by the positivity that came from them. If we really think about the negative past, there is always a positive that we can glean. If we don’t, we can spiral into an abyss of darkness. The pain of what happened to us still has ahold of us, causing us to drown in those memories.
Going back to the song I heard and the words that were said in that song, it made me think about God in those words. (You are saying what in the world is she talking about!) God loves us and is love forever, till the end of time. 1John 4:16 says “…we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him.” In everything we do, we need to make decisions based on our love and obedience to Him, in what is right and wrong, out of a heart of obedience. John 14:15 says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Also, we need to have Him in our mind, heart and soul. Matthew 22:36-38 reads “Teacher which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” God commanded His people to choose Him with every part of their being, and in the process, to deny all other supposed deities.
When those flooding memories, flow over us like a river, whether they are good or bad, we need to remember that God is always a constant in our lives. He always loves us no matter what we have done. We just have to reach out to Him in those hard times and remember to obey Him with every part of our being. We need to put Him as our inspiration in everything we do, everything we say, everything we go through, all the memories that flood our hearts. How do we get to the point of loving and obeying Him with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind? Take out the bible, the words given us by God, to help us when memories flood our mind and soul. His words have power to pull us out of the drowning flood. Let His words flood into your mind, heart and soul!
Yes, I shed tears when I see or hear something that brings out memories of things of the past; of people who I loved; of hard times. But I know that if I put God first, His love will rescue me from the flood.
A float in a parade and a song from long ago. Who would have thought that I needed a handkerchief handy? When memories flood your heart, turn to God and His words of love.
Enjoy your family and friends this holiday season. Make lots of memories! Someday, when you look back and tears flood your eyes, you will realize that the love those precious souls gave you are the reason for those tears and you can be thankful for them flooding your mind with memories!
Till next time! Happy Holidays! Be safe! I will see you in the New Year!
Keela
(The picture at the beginning, is of my grandmother reading books to my grandkids when they were little. Even though it brings tears, it is a precious memory that floods my heart!)