Tree decorating during the Christmas holiday is an absolute favorite time for me.  While carols play, the boxes of ornaments are strewn across the floor as I pick and choose the special place to hang them on the tree for the Christmas season. It’s not just hanging the ornament, but with each ornament there is an attached memory. The tiny hand painted quail egg that is imprinted with DAD brings his smile and wonderful thoughts of him to my heart. Lovely handmade beaded ornaments, made by my mother, are on many branches, smiling at me. Specific trains, boats, cacti, manatees, and moose dangling represent the travel memories of places my husband and I have visited. Missing from the tree are the child-crafted homemade ornaments from my boys. I have since passed them back to them for their own trees and memories.

Whether it is the holiday cooking and candle lighting associated with Kwanza, or the eight days of Hanukah and the lighting of the menorah, or carols and Christmas tree trimming, God loves us unconditionally whatever the season of our lives. I am blessed to have good memories and aware that others may have but few.

God tells us in several places in the Bible, as in a verse from Hebrews, “I will forgive their
sins and will no longer remember their wrongs.”  No memories of our wrong doings are held by our Lord. For our daily sins, He will forgive us and not remember our wayward self. On the flip side, He, I believe, gives to us flashes of good memories to sustain us in this earthly life.

Find something, even a small pearl of a good time in your life.  Thank Him for that memory/ blessing. Even if some folks may have to dig deep into their being for a bright light, He is there, loving us unconditionally.

Jill