Five Minute Friday: Remember

Last week's prompt just didn't move me - maybe because I'm pretty much convinced that the church's attempts to be 'relevant' over the last 3 decades or so have produced an end product that looks less and less like church to me. (Even though I totally get the desire to meet people where they are with the gospel, I'm just not convinced that changing how we do church so dramatically is the best way to really be relevant. And I just KNEW I couldn't even scratch the surface of all that in 5 minutes!) At any rate - today's word is rich for me, causing me to be pensive and nostalgic and all kinds of things that surprise me, in ways both hard and wonderful. So, I'll put fingers to keyboard for 5 minutes flat and see what comes out when the buzzer rings:

Maui sunset - for no reason other than I loved it and needed to remember it on this grey day in Santa Barbara.

Remember

GO:

I remember being young and foolish and full of myself and wildly, passionately in love. I remember wanting to be with that man every minute of every day. I remember the joy of a big wedding, with lots of family and friends around and I remember the naturalness of coming together in lovemaking and tenderness.

I remember the adventure of taking a freighter across the Atlantic to Africa, to live in our newly married passion in an entirely different place. I remember being so sure of myself and then being told to cool it by a very conservative bishop.

I remember being pregnant - and not fully comprehending how I got that way. (Yes, I was that naive - well, really not THAT naive - but, still it was puzzling when we thought we were being SO careful.) I was 14, 000 miles from home, no telephone service, no internet, letters took two weeks round trip. And I had no pre-natal care. And I remember the rush that came when she pushed her way into the world  and the joy of having this perfect treasure to nurse and hold and watch with wonder.

I remember the birth of each of my 3, all of them spectacular in their own way, each of them unique and wondrous and complicated and scary. 

I remember the day they told us my husband had prostate cancer and the surgery that followed and the difficult recovery and the changes that wrought in our relationship. There was loss but I remember deepening joy, wider acceptance, and partnership through the tough stuff as well as the joyous stuff. 

I remember that God has been there in, through, around and above it all, providing moments of close connection and years of doubt, all of it to push me along this journey of life, this journey of faith. 

I remember that he said, "Remember me." And that is the most amazing remembrance of all.


STOP