Re-Membering It Forward, Part 2: A Beautiful Reminder

(This blog series explores re-membering as a way to ground us wholly in the Holy. This blog explores how physical things help us to re-member.)

“It reminds me where I am… and it’s pretty,” my aunt replied to me.

I had not seen the little tin outside her door before, so I had asked her about it.

My aunt walks slowly and with her head down a bit. She knows the route from the elevator to her apartment so well, I bet she could do it in her sleep. Yet she still wants a reminder.

Maybe that’s why her answer caught me as it did. It made me think not just about a physical place, yet that I also need reminders of where I am in my heart and my head.

So, where am I? Yes, we just moved, yet how am I feeling about this new place and new missionary role? How am I doing as a husband and a dad? How am I doing as a friend and a neighbor? How am I engaging my journey as a disciple of Jesus?

Ancient Israel followed a cloud in the wilderness, then they had an ark to remind them of God’s presence. When they remembered well, they prayed the Shema (I’ll place part of it at the end of this blog) and they had practices to remind them Whose they were (God’s), Who they were (a people delivered, redeemed, and believers in a promise), and Why they were (to be a light to the world).

Frederick Buechner (one of my favorite authors) describes his personal study/library in multiple writings. He talks of mementos on shelves, things like trinkets from his grandma, a heart-shaped stone, letters, and even a bronze bust of his best-friend. As he mentions them, he describes the memory of the item, feelings elicited then, and also how those things remind him where he’s been, where he is, and how they – both the people in the memories and the memories themselves – provide grace and hope to live into his future.

As I followed my aunt down the hall I thought, “What keeps me centered through all the transition? Or, am I even centered, anchored, rooted, grounded?

What things remind me of where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m going?

I have quite a few items from past events and experiences – most of them in a storage box somewhere – yet I would like to mention my prayer beads.

Some friends made them for me when I left for my first Camino de Santiago in 2018. Some of the different beads represent different prayers and songs, like Psalm 1, the Gloria Patri, the Shema, and the Lord’s Prayer. Other beads shift meaning depending on the day – some days they simply remind me to breathe in and breathe out, while other days those same beads represent the names of family members or parishioners or situations in the world.

I could say these same prayers without these beads, yet the beads help me to stick with it if I’m tired; remind me what I’m doing if I get distracted; or remind me thatGod’s ways are beyond mine – and I need to breathe and trust, and in doing so, experience peace.

What helps you stay on track each day?

What do you have to ground you in the storms of life or recenter you after a destabilizing conversation or experience?

I wonder if you have something to re-member you to Whose you are, Where you are, and Why you are. If you don’t, then try to find something beautiful to put in your pocket or place on your mirror or set on your dashboard.

Re-Member, you are loved and worthy of love; you are forgiven and can forgive others. Alleluia. Amen.

(Here’s the Shema as I learned it and pray it: Hear, O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One. Blessed be your holy name and your kingdom forever. And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and all of your strength. Listen to these words I’m commanding you today and keep them in your heart. Teach them to your children when you’re at home and when you’re on the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. Bind them as a sign upon your hand and as tefillin between your eyes. Write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.)