On the corner of a bookshelf in our living room sits an ordinary jar, jammed full of white strips of paper. There’s nothing remarkable about the jar. Just clear glass and an ill-fitting lid, but inside—inside there are countless reasons to burst into God-directed praise.
As each new year begins, we start our annual assignment: to write down what God does for us, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and put it in the jar. Daily things. Average things, maybe. But seen through the eyes of faith they become something more significant, opportunities to see God at work: providing, sustaining, responding, comforting…
As the year draws to a close, we set aside time to empty the jar and read what we wrote. Resurfaced memories lead to wide smiles and occasionally, a few tears. Though each paper describes the lives we ourselves lived, it’s like re-watching a favorite movie. “Oh yeah, I forgot God did that.” “God really answered that prayer!” “That was such a gift.”
Though there are always things we miss, this simple discipline of writing down when we perceive God’s hand at work and reading them aloud to each other helps us see our days more clearly. To worship God more freely. There has never been a year when the jar is empty. There never will be. God’s faithfulness is as sure as the sunrise, as constant as the little jar standing at attention.
In the bottom of a river stands a tower of large stones. There’s nothing remarkable about them really, just minerals bound together and stacked on top of each other, but inside—inside they hold the stories of a God who rescues His people again and again and again.
The story of the stones recorded in Joshua might be a familiar one. But as you looked at these verses again, did you notice the size of the stones?
Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes, so that this will be a
sign among you.
—Joshua 4:5
These were no pebbles! No, these stones required heaving. They required effort. The backs of the chosen men were bent under the weight of these remembrance stones as they carried them across their shoulder blades. Such significance was required to build a monument to God’s glory that would stand for generations.
Though remembering the goodness of God is evident, it’s not easy. It requires looking back instead of always pushing forward, slowing down instead of running at warp speed, seeing rightly that the blessings our lives hold are gifts of grace not trophies of our own talents and efforts.
But remembrance is worth it. When we take time to remember all that God has done, we set our hearts on gratitude, focus our lives on finding joy in the highs and lows, and fill our homes with praise even in grief. So set out the jar. Build the tower. Sing the songs. Do the hard work of remembering, and don’t stop until Christ comes.
I loved today’s reading and devotional. I needed this reminder to set aside time for reflection, gratitude, and remembrance of God’s faithfulness. I love the jar idea. I also love journaling my prayers but I need to be more consistent at it.
I love how the last verse in Joshua that we read says the stones are “so that you may always fear the Lord your God.” Remembrance goes hand in hand with our fear and awe of God. The fear of the Lord brings us in a close and intimate relationship with God! May our remembrance lead us to a deeper awe and appreciation for the Lord our God!
❤️ .
REMEMBER. Do this in REMEMBRANCE. Have I always been thoughtful to REMEMBER God’s goodness and blessings in my life? Not nearly enough. Reading the past couple days’ Scripture has brought to mind many times when the provision of God’s goodness in my life and the lives of those I love was nothing short of a miracle. At the time, of course, I thought I would remember what He did forever. Then life went on, and other things happened, and I only REMEMBERED these times when something was said, or happened, to bring them to mind. The Jews are still celebrating the festivals and days God told them in the OT to set aside to REMEMBER His provision for them. We have some days set aside – Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Thanksgiving, Ash Wednesday, Lent, even Valentines Day to REMEMBER that Jesus was born, suffered and died, and rose again to save us from our sins; and to specifically say “Thank You.” But I don’t have special days set aside to REMEMBER to thank Him for the miracles in my life. As I face an uncertain future with regard to my memory, and pray every day to hold onto my memories of God and my family, I’m asking myself how I can help to make sure I REMEMBER – that word has special significance to me now. I’m sure that the best way to make sure I hang onto these special memories is to write them down all in one place where I – and maybe future generations – can read them and REMEMBER the goodness God has provided throughout my life.
Lifting today’s prayers:
THERESA – praying God wraps you in His warmth and peace today and enables you to let go of guilt for an accident. Praying for your sons recovery from his injuries and emotional healing for your family. And praying for things to work out in your job.
KAREN ELIZABETH – praying for Kai’s continued recovery following his surgery, and for no complications from Cathie’s surgery.
ADRIENNE – praying for God to fill you with the light of His love today
LYNNE FROM ALABAMA – praying for you to have God’s strength as you care for Jack.
*edit: Joshua 4:24
The verse that stood out to me today was “in the future when you children ask what is the meaning…”. When my children ask their mommy, why do you cry when you sing worship songs?, why do read the Bible and put stickers and colorful highlights on the Bible? Why do you pray? What is the meaning of all this mommy …? May we tell them, so that they know that the hand of the Lord is strong, so that they may always fear the Lord (Joshua 1:24).
Father, I pray that you will place the spirit of the fear of the Lord among my children, their future spouses, their future families and the kids that are to be born from them, may You give them the grace of curiosity that they will ask about these things, the things of God and the things of faith, so that the stories/stones of remembrance will be passing down from generation to generation within my family, their families, for this foundation of Remembrance and Praise to be stronger, for the glory of Your Name. Amen.
I am very encouraged that SRT suggests the discipline of writing down, “this simple discipline of writing down when we perceive God’s hand at work and reading them aloud to each other helps us see our days more clearly”, living slower to examine God’s hand and showing gratitude to God.
Fun fact: there was a research done on people who were suffering from mental health and seeking counselling, they did an experiment of them writing gratitude letters. What did they find? those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health four weeks and 12 weeks after their writing exercise ended. Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain. They used an fMRI scanner to measure brain activity. Most interestingly, when we compared those who wrote the gratitude letters with those who didn’t, the gratitude letter writers showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in the fMRI scanner. We found that across the participants, when people felt more grateful, their brain activity was distinct from brain activity related to guilt and the desire to help a cause. More specifically, we found that when people who are generally more grateful gave more money to a cause, they showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision making. This suggests that people who are more grateful are also more attentive to how they express gratitude.
PRAYERS…❤️
@KAREN ELIZABETH: prayers for Kailand and Cathie over the surgeries and strong recovery.
@THERESA: I am so sorry, accidents do happen. God will help. Prayers for healing for your son and his upcoming surgery, and job security, your peace in the turmoil, freedom from guilt.
@ADRIENNE: prayers for Sharon’s brain healing/skull.
@FOSTER MAMA: prayers for motivation, joy, rewards, refreshing love, care and pure beauty to flood over you. Continued prayers for your goddaughter and her mama over living situation, ease of fear.
@BUTTONBERRY: what a memory stone you have with Laurie. Thank you for sharing. I only heard of Mackinac Island and the lovely garden show they have in summer.
@RHONDA J: what app do you suggest for digital journaling? I love that idea!
Be blessed dear sisters ❤️.
Remember, “The lines have fallen for US in pleasant places; indeed, we have a beautiful inheritance”.
So beautiful, BUTTONBERRY.
Happy “Love” week, my sisters!!
Between Valentine’s and the beginning of Lent (for many)…So nice to bed reminded of His love daily….for eternity ❤️
Praying your requests as I read them and agreeing/ echoing with so many prayers.
(Please pray for release for wisdom and God-given drive to battle laziness, procrastination, occasional apathy)
Aren’t these scriptures an amazing account? Even though Joshua would have been advanced age, I’m guessing he still felt the weight and responsibility of the mantle of leadership given to him after Moses died.
And then to stand near the Jordan, at seasonal flood stage, no less, and look over to the promised land! The mixed emotions of excitement and trepidation… but Joshua received the encouragement directly from the Lord. How often we need that, too!
I have a precious ‘memory stone’ also. In 2019 my dearest childhood friend and I took our regular girl’s long weekend trip to Mackinac Island in July. She had lost her oldest son earlier that year to an overdose, and the island turned out to be a perfect location because no autos are allowed there, only horse drawn wagons, bikes, are on the streets. It was a quiet, slow, peaceful three days of catching up, talking through things, some tears, and giggles too.
One of the days we were taking the long way around walk that ended near waters edge and I found a flat heart shaped stone. I keep it at my sink window sill. This ended up being the last trip we took together. I didn’t see her again until 2021, due to the lock down, etc, just spoke with her on our regular phone calls.
Her health mysteriously started going downhill during that time with an assortment of puzzling symptoms, and she was eventually diagnosed with MS. It was hard to see her slowly decline in my visits to her. She lived about 3 hours away where we grew up. Last October she had apparently a massive stroke and died a week later. I was at first stunned, and then devastated. We were friends since age of 4, 61 years. I miss her so.
BUT GOD, to borrow from Tina..
As hard as her loss was, I still could see that God was merciful. Her decline was hard for me to watch- she was unable to talk on the phone and comprehend because of her memory loss, but when I would visit, she knew me and the spark of her was still there.
The best part of our friendship is that we were also sisters in Christ. I truly can attest that as I Thess. 4: 13-14 states, we believers do not grieve as those who have no hope. My dear Laurie had a lot of pain in her life and I know she is celebrating her homecoming with Jesus right now, along with those dear to her who arrived there before her! I love to think of her and picture her in heaven, and I can’t wait to see her again when I get There too. We’ll have a lot of catching up to do and we’ll have ETERNITY in which to do it!
Blessings to you, dear She’s!