thank you for the memory

“I have stolen your most valuable possession!” lamented a friend to me today.

“I disagree.”

“What do you mean?”

“I disagree. I do not believe that time is my most valuable possession. Long ago, I decided that aside from the Holy Spirit, my memories are my most valuable possessions. So ... thank you for the memory.”

Last week I found myself coveting the memories made by my friends who had gone camping together. While I sat at home watching rented movies, they were off having an adventure. For instance they arrived at the campsite Friday night at 11 p.m. after the park had closed. They were locked out. They had to find a vacant hotel. I envied them the opportunity to think back on that moment and smile at the memory.

But now ... now, I have my own. My friend, who drove me to the airport to begin my journey this summer to Prague, took a wrong turn at the last moment which caused me to miss my flight.

What a great way to start off my adventure! No. I’m not being sarcastic. I’m in earnest. If no exciting, amusing things happen in life, what is there to remember? What would bring that random smile to one’s face? Oh sure, I would much rather be in the air on my way to Europe at the moment ... but I know that eventually I would make it there. So, I allowed myself to enjoy the moment, certain that it would provide many random smiles in the future.

Perhaps it is a bit Pollyanna-ish of me. You know ... the peppy young girl who played the “glad game” every time people were feeling down. “Let’s see ... what can we be glad about?” However, I make no apologies. I am so assured of God’s sovereignty that whatever happens in my life I am convinced has been predestined for a good purpose. That is why I can calmly ask the airline clerk when the next flight out of Savannah will be. Hey, who knows! Maybe the flight I missed was going to crash over the Atlantic and it was not yet my time to go. Or maybe my new flight IS meant to crash and it IS my time to go. While I would be okay with this, i’m afraid, should it actually happen, it would thrust my chauffeur friend into years of therapy.

Well, as the old song goes, “Que sera sera.”

Or as Paul instructs, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Amen and amen.