Rev. Ray and Pat Amos

Proverbs 10:7

“The memory of the righteous is blessed”

The U-Haul truck was packed and we had asked the parsonage committee to go through the parsonage to see that we were leaving it clean and ready for the next pastoral family. Bethany was a baby and Pat saw little fingerprints on the door. She started to clean them when a friend said, “Leave them there, they are memories.”

They are everywhere we turn, like fingerprints that cannot be wiped away. You find them in an old song, in the smell of breakfast cooking, in the crackle of a fireplace singing, in a spring flower blooming; or in the passing of an old car that takes you down a sentimental highway.

Who else but our Heavenly Father would include memory in creation? I do believe that memory is a gift of God. It is the sunset at the end of the day; the aroma of a loved cooked meal that lingers for a little while after the dishes are done; and the song that keeps on singing when the singer is gone.

“I’m so glad to see you,” she said to me. Then she introduced me to her Father, and pointed out the window so I could see his truck. Her Mother was there also, and from time to time they would forget that I was sitting there as they talked among themselves. I could tell that they really loved each other. I also felt like I had gained some new friends. I think that I might even meet them on the golden street someday. There we sat and visited (just the two of us) in her nursing home room; she and I; and the loved ones of her memories.

“I would like to pray with you,” I said to the dear saint who was living with one foot in this world and the other foot in a world unknown to me, but not to her. “Come over here Mother and hold our hand,” she said. There we stood praying as I held the hand of a friend and another hand unseen. “Thank you Lord for precious memories,” I prayed. That was when I heard her whisper, “Amen.”

Grace and Peace, Rev Ray

“Link to YouTube Video – Precious Memories”