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“The
Good Stuff”
“Two Hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, two animal crackers, a marble, a used lipstick, a small dot, two chocolate kisses, and thirteen pennies.” Those are the “favorite things” his daughter gave Robert Fulghum and that he described in his book, It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It.
Each person has his or her own descriptions of what “the good stuff” is. What looks like junk to us may for others of us be an expression of love.
Keeping memorabilia throughout our lifetime becomes especially important when a loved one is longer with us. Something that seemed like “junk” that belonged to the one we love somehow takes on new meaning when thinking of that person. It isn’t the object that has meaning anymore, it is the memory that it stirs in our hearts.
When Barb’s Mon died, I was poignantly reminded of this truth. When we were cleaning out her stuff after the funeral, Barb asked our kids what they might want. We found both kids in the basement arguing over the old pretzel tin in which Barb’s mother had always packed her fresh-baked cookies every time she came to visit. That was Megan and Jason’s favorite memory of Gran!
Memorabilia gives you the opportunity to remember, to share stories, to hold onto a love that never leaves. We think memories will hurt, and some do. But sharing those memories helps us grieve and experience the love at the same time. Nothing can take away the love that has been shared, for love is eternal. And being forever changed isn’t all negative.
Randell Wardlaw brought some 20-year old pictures of Lynnewood to our church picnic. Everyone was commenting about how the church (and its members) had changed over the years. Change is inevitable. Rather than life being a circle where we go around and round and come back to the same place, think of life as a spiral. We may go over the same issue more than once, but as the circumstances around us have changed, we have grown and changed. When we allow something new to come into our lives, we let out the stale and welcome the fresh. Even when it seems the same, it is seen with new eyes and experienced with new hearts.
There will always be something new to experience when we constantly reevaluate, search anew, welcome new members, grow and redefine who we are as a church!
Thanks be to God!
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Lynnewood United Methodist Church
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