Reminders
Last Sunday after church, we ventured into the mountains for
our first hike of the summer season. We
listened to The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare on the way
toward Red Feather Lakes. The book about
a 13 year boy who lives alone in the woods with the help of an Indian friend put
the kids in the perfect frame of mind to tramp about in the Rockies!
Not sure anything could have prepared Micah for his run-in
with a cactus!
Todd helping pick the
cactus out of Micah’s clothes!
We even found a log cabin of sorts! (In the book, Matt and his dad built a log
cabin). Granted it was an outhouse, but
log-built nonetheless!
We scrambled up rocks, looked for wildlife,
marveled at the spring beauty,
and threw sticks in the swift and swollen creek.
Toward the end of our walk, Joel came flying down from the
knoll he had been exploring. “It’s a
snake!” He declared at full volume. Sure
enough! A four foot bull snake in all its
yellow-green splendor!
The other part of our walk was “the letter picture.” According to the tradition we started last
year, each time we hike we find something that represents the experience, form
it into a letter and take a picture.
Last year we chose letters to eventually make the word “Hoffman,”
starting with H made from sticks at Rocky Mountain National Park and ending
with N made in the forest flowers at Yellowstone National Park. This year we’ve decided to spell the word “Adventures.” This being our first time out, we made an A
of rocks in a bed of cactus.
The idea is to print the pictures and frame them as a word –
a visual reminder of where are adventures have taken us.
I would like to think this idea of visual reminders is
original to us. Alas it is not. God beat us to the notion! When he wanted to remind post-flood Noah of
his promise, he painted the rainbow.
When he wanted people to remember his faithfulness, he had them build an
altar. When he wanted us to remember
Christ’s sacrifice, he went all out and established a multisensory reminder
involving not only the eyes, but the hands and mouth. “Take and eat. Do this in remembrance of me.”
I need reminders. I
love thinking back nostalgically of past events, the sweet moments. These help me to remember God’s
goodness. And I need to remember the
less-than-sweet moments; the painful times, the hard lessons. It was those times that taught me most about
God’s faithfulness. I need to remember
that.
I need reminders because not only do they help me see where
I’ve been, they shape where I’m headed. When
I remember the goodness and faithfulness of God in the past I more likely to
look with hope at the challenge before me.
Reminders are the stories that
put us in the frame of mind to tackle the next adventure.
