大象传媒

Good morning. 聽Today I find myself in something of a dilemma. I can鈥檛 decide whether to say that it is a special day or it was a special day. 聽You see, today would have been my father鈥檚 88th birthday. 聽It would have been a day to celebrate his love of the natural world, his pleasure in photography and his many interests. 聽My father died shortly before Christmas last year, and so I am left with my dilemma.
Does this day cease to be a day to celebrate him, since he is no longer here to participate in those celebrations 鈥� or do we mark it out to remember him anyway? 聽In truth, none of us really gets to choose how we are remembered 鈥� but rather the living make those choices for us. 聽They sift their memories, albeit unknowingly, and keep just the most precious ones of all.
Even those who have a good memory and can remember exactly what they were doing on such and such a day in such and such a year may not be good at remembering. Remembering is the art of encapsulating a place or a person in such a way that they continue to influence us even when they are out of sight and mind.
God鈥檚 people of old have always cherished the notion that he remains with them 鈥� come hell or high water. 鈥淔rom everlasting to everlasting you are God鈥�. 聽Yesterday, today and tomorrow meld into a single whole in the presence of one who lives forever.
Dear God, as we remember those who have shaped our lives today, we give you thanks for them. 聽May the words we speak and the actions we take today shape the lives of others for good, we pray. Amen