So I Won't Forget...February 2024

3 thing I want to remember from the past month

He ran back to his car parked out in the cul-de-sac of our beloved home and came slow-jogging back up the winding sidewalk to our front door. There is a certain look my Dad can have on his face when there’s something he’s been planning to say or do and I saw the familiar grin of intentionality creeping out behind the brown grocery sack that he carried as if it held a great mystery. We had started to wind down from the first long day of moving back into our home after 243 days of living that wandering rental-house-apartment-boxes-everywhere life and the fatigue of moving was settling in. Friends and family had stopped by intermittently all day bringing a new wave of energy with each small tour of our newly remodeled home, but I was getting close to that part of the day where you need to sit on your closet floor alone. Dad started to gather a crowd calling our kids over to attention, me and Dustin, and even my friend Holly who had wandered over from across the street. Mom, forever the veteran of Dad’s funny little speeches, came in close too. She knew the contents of the bag and smiled in a way that let us know this was a good one.

He started by declaring to the kids that they were now old enough to watch It’s a Wonderful Life and that he’d be making arrangements for them to watch it with him now every year “until I die.” Dad has been faithful to the old classic my entire life and this is saying a lot because the man could care less about movies or generally anything related to TV and film. There’s just something about Jimmy Stewart reminding us all that “no man is a failure who has friends” that is so gut-wrenchingly relatable and lovely that even my Dad can’t resist it. He continued by reminding us of the scene in which the Martini family is standing in front of the home they’ve finally been able to afford thanks to Bailey Brothers Building & Loan and George’s wife Mary offers a house-warming gift. Setup complete, he finally opened the brown bag and pulled out a loaf of bread.

“Bread, that this house may never know hunger.”

Next, a container of Morton salt.

“Salt, that life may always have flavor.”

And finally a bottle of wine.

“Wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever.”

Cue tears and laughter and a scene that I pray is permanently etched in my memory. The kids were a little confused and underwhelmed with what came out of the bag, the adults were laughing and celebrating while my Dad beamed with the success of his speech, and I was holding back tears echoing the sentiment of this blessing and the prayer that followed in my heart: God, would you bless this home and the people in it, may we steward it well for our children and all who would enter here.

So I Won’t Forget #1…Dad’s brown bag blessing on move-in day.

A few Saturdays ago while we were still in the rental house, my son wanted to play with his Hot Wheels track. I’m just guessing here, but it’s approximately 130 feet long. Just kidding, but that’s what it felt like when it was setup down the long narrow hallway of the too-small-for-us house. The last thing I wanted to do on a day we should be packing was to navigate around bright orange tracks and tiny wheeled cars all morning.

Because I am not the first person to reflect on the wonder that is children playing and the beauty of those moments when adults slow down long enough to enter in, I’ll cut right to the point: I did not stop to play…but Dustin did. He’d spent all week working and in his spare time negotiating with contractors and emotionally-supporting his grumpy wife and on Saturday when he could have been doing other things, he played Hot Wheels for twenty minutes on the floor with our son. Should I say it stopped me in my tracks or is that too cringy of a metaphor to use right now? Either way, I loved it and it did. It stopped me long enough to capture a photo and to remember that these days are flying by and I married a man who understands that and I’ve been given a son who loves to build and I want him to learn to build from his Dad.

So I Won’t Forget #2…Hot Wheels tracks are hazards and beautiful reminders.

This is a really full season for us. I’ve talked too much about the tree and the house and the move, but the reality is that has been the undercurrent to a lot of other yes’s in my life right now. I could make a list for you, but I know you are likely living under the weight of your own list. Why would you want to read mine?

I was on a call last week with a person I had never met and I had been a little nervous leading up to our conversation even though this was someone whose reputation of kindness preceded them. No surprise—the call was a total delight and I spent the remainder of the day thinking about some wisdom that flowed from them so naturally that I might have missed it had it not stuck in my brain for the rest of the day. In the context of our conversation they referenced Revelation 12 where it talks about evil being defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of the saints. I’m not about to break down Revelation 12 for any of us and that wasn’t their point in bringing it up. They simply mentioned it in validating my work on We Have This Hope—capturing the testimonies of the saints, telling the stories of God’s work in the world. I realized later that I had been encouraged with something real, not just everyday “You can do this!” encouragement that would have been forgotten as soon as the call ended. This was the good and true kind that keeps you doing the long, hard work of the same thing in the same direction¹. This was for me and I have to remember these kinds of moments on the days I think it might be easier if I just got a regular job, whatever that is, or I phoned in my efforts for something a little less serious.

So I Won’t Forget #3…I need encouragement to keep doing the work.

I wonder if you can relate. Do you ever wonder if your work is worth it? Do you need some encouragement that is rooted in truth and hidden in an ordinary conversation? I did and I’m wondering if there are more beautiful nuggets out there for all of us if we can train our minds to see and remember?

Practice right now in the comments—how has someone or something encouraged you? How can you mark encouragement in your memory?

Next week I’m sharing the story of my friend Jamie and I can’t wait for you to hear him talk about life as a young boy in Ireland, the legacy of his grandmother, and the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing him to faith.

If you’ve haven’t listened to my conversation with

Kristen LaValley

, you can do that here—or wherever you listen to podcasts.

I hope you’ll have a week with moments to remember and beautiful people to tell!

Emily

1. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson