How Soon We Forget

"Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?" Mark 8:18

We were sitting with family friends earlier this summer. It was a nice relaxed visit. We had come to ogle over the baby that had been born over the past year. We were talking over things we used to do and annual events that continue year after year. The baby's father, a young man in his early thirties, looked at me and wondered whether we still held the bicycle parade. He was awestruck because he was thinking the parade had been long gone. I realized that he had grown up and moved away and expected that everything he knew would do likewise. He just assumed that when he moved on, others did also. As human beings,we often attribute our singular experiences to the larger groups experience. And we assume that things have changed because we have changed. We assume that others that grow exactly the same way along with us, and that our perceptions are the one true history of the world. We put others and outside experiences in boxes. We don't understand so we don't try. Part of why we do that is to protect ourselves from being overwhelmed. And we do it to protect fragile egos.

God doesn't change, no matter how quickly we turn from the moments of grace in our lives. God is still abundantly generous and God is still love even when we have shut love out. God through Christ does not turn away and forget to provide for the people. In the midst of a violent and changing world never fails to feed us and fill us. We can chose to miss the blessing. We can decide that kind of thing doesn't happen any more. And God is still God, blessing all of us with abundance.

Today, I want to remember all of the wonderful ways God has blessed me. I want to live trusting that those blessings will continue in new ways in our new place. I want to walk today knowing God's love goes ever before me and around me. And I want to remember to be grateful for the wondrous gifts of love I have been given.