Remember

On Saturday, my son went to the barber for the first time. He is five years old, but I've cut his hair up until last Saturday. I thought that it would be a good experience for him to go to a "real" barber and he was very excited. He half-nervously, half-excitedly sat up in a booster chair in that old fashioned barber shop and relished the haircut. The barber was a kind older man who is probably in his early 80's. His is the only barber shop run by a male barber in the county in which we live that is open 5 days a week; there is one other barber shop that is open for just a few days a week. He told us, in between haircuts, that many men do not go into barbering anymore--the hairdressing profession has been overtaken by women since the requirements to become a barber were changed and men were expected to attend beautician school with women. Many men simply weren't interested in going into the profession after that, and barber shops have become few and far between in favor of "hair salons" and beauty shops. He informed us that the number of barber shops had gone down from 17 in our county to 2 since he began his career as a barber. 

I sat in that little barber shop, that old fashioned barber shop with the squeaky leather seats and looked at the elderly barber's certificate for barbering on the wall. And I felt a sadness come over me as I left, and after I heard the barber's story of how barber shops were fast becoming obsolete. And I thought to myself; What will happen when this man dies? And what will become of his little barber shop with the red, white, and blue barber's pole turning at it's door? 

Will it even be remembered?

This feeling has come over me a lot lately, maybe because I'm turning 37 in a few weeks, maybe because I "feel" older, maybe because so many things have changed even from the time that I was a little girl. Technology has moved so quickly --things have really changed--and sometimes, I just don't want them to; I want things to stay as they are for just a few more moments in this speck of eternity--but the world whizzes fast, and moves forward at a frightening speed. 

There are some things that we want to forget . . . some things that are painful, or that burden us in our walk with the Lord, that weigh us down. There can be a "good" forgetting--

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV)

But there are many things that ought to be remembered. 

It is good to remember. 

In the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord reminds His beloved people to remember how He led them out of Egypt, how He brought forth water from a rock, how He fed them with manna (Deuteronomy 8:15 NKJV). 

He reminds them to teach these things to their children (Deuteronomy 6:20) and of the importance of remembering all the works that the Lord had accomplished for the Israelites in bringing them out of the land of Egypt~~

“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. (Deuteronomy 6:20-23 NKJV)

Time after time in the Scriptures, the importance of remembering is stressed. We are called time and time again to remember God and his works; here are a few examples--

Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;I am God, and there is none like Me . . . (Isaiah 46:9 NKJV)

I will remember the works of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. 
Psalm 77:11 NKJV

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (I Corinthians 11:24 NKJV)

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. (Revelation 2:5 NKJV)


God also remembers us--

Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
(Isaiah 49:15-16 NKJV)


Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a pleasant child?
For though I spoke against him,
I earnestly remember him still;
Therefore My heart yearns for him;I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:20 NKJV)

For He remembered His holy promise,And Abraham His servant. (Psalm 105:42 NKJV)


A few days ago, we were driving home and noticed two crosses under a tree around a strong curve in the road in the country close to where we live. There must have been a car accident there, and two lives had been lost, finished in a moment--someone had placed two crosses there--someone who had wanted to remember. Again, a sadness passed over me--how long would anyone remember? How long before the weather and the huge plows that clear the roads here in the Midwest would sweep the signs away?

But God remembers. 

Every life, every drop in the bucket of eternity. Every sparrow that falls. Every tiny ant that crawls over a leaf in the spring when days are new and every cricket that dies after singing his last song in the fall.

God remembers. 

He knows our frame and remembers that we are dust.

Our days are short here on this earth. 

Only one life, twill soon be past--

Easily forgotten, easily eaten up by the quickness of the passing years--but there is one thing that is important--

Only what's done for Christ will last. 

And so we remember--

We remember God in the days of our youth; we remember His work--we seek to walk in the ancient paths where the good way is and there we find rest for our souls (Jeremiah 6:16). 

And God remembers. 

Every hair on our heads, every tiny breath, every sigh, every tear, every good and perfect gift that brings our hearts joy and that points back to a remembering Creator. 

And so I look back on those "olden" days, those old fashioned times that I cherish and they remind me that there is value in remembering, in holding on to the good things of the past, the things of value. 

My old farmhouse reminds me of that. Every time I smell the old scent of it's 1860's foundation when I plant flowers around my house, when I walk into the aged barn and think about the animals that lived there once--when I try to preserve the beauty and memories that linger on the beloved land that God gave me to take care of and to share with others. 

I remember. 

God remembers. Even at the end of all time, the Lord will take out His great Book, His book of remembrance when He gathers the saints to Himself--

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,

And the Lord listened and heard them;

So a book of remembrance was written before Him

For those who fear the Lord

And who meditate on His name.

They shall be Mine," says the Lord of hosts,

On the day that I make them My jewels.

And I will spare them

As a man spares his own son who serves him.

Malachi 3:16-17 NKJV

And He will remember--when sorrow is forgotten; when tears are past--when all things that were unjust or crooked or tainted with sin are made right. 

Even when He makes all things new, the joy of His remembrance will reign. 

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