An old humpback
steamer trunk sits in the corner of our guest room. It is small compared to today’s
luggage – a mere 20” x 26” x 18.” For most of its existence the trunk resided in
the corner of an attic. Prior to that in 1929 it traveled on a steamship as the
baggage of a 20 year old Irish man immigrating to the USA. That trunk carried
all the worldly possessions my father would bring from the “old country.” Over
the years the trunk has been the depository of miscellaneous artifacts that
were saved by my parents as memories to recall in the future. I have often
wondered how my parents determined what was significate enough be placed in the
trunk. The contents filling the trunk include several Bibles, a variety of
small boxes containing pictures, trinkets representing events in their lives,
and sundry documents recounting marriages, births, and deaths. The trunk is
rarely opened and sits there containing memories that hopefully will be recalled
and explored. In the past 45 years my wife and I have added to the contents
items we wanted to keep as memories. In some ways this trunk is a treasure
trove of the history of the Reid, Potts, Shenk and Ebersole families.
Recently my son has been interested in
tracking down the history of my father. He has poured over documents both in
this country and Ireland that I did not know one could even access. In many
respects he now knows more about my family background than I do. He asked
months ago to look at some of the pictures he heard were stored in the trunk.
Several weeks ago I took boxes of pictures to his house and we began to pour
through them. It was then I made a sad discovery – much of the treasure trove
of history and memories was lost. They were there physically but they had no
meaning. The pictures were clear but now they were a mystery. Who were these
people? Where was this picture taken? What time period did they represent? Most
of the pictures were unlabeled and my family had never reviewed them with me.
Occasionally as we reviewed the pictures, I came across one that stirred a
memory and I was able to recount to my son the picture’s story. Well over the
half of the pictures in the box were a mystery, a lost memory. I should have
prodded my parents to review the stories that the pictures represented. Did I
come across as too preoccupied with my own life that they assumed they had
nothing worthwhile to share?
Psalm 71 records for us the words of an
older person who finds his strength diminishing (vs. 9) and the signs of old
age were obvious (vs. 18). Rather than become self-absorbed by his many
problems or assume that at his age he had nothing to contribute, he boldly
prays, “O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another
generation, your power to those who come.” He has a mission even in his older
years to “praise you yet more and more… tell of your righteous acts… your deeds
of salvation… for their number is past my knowledge” (vs. 14, 15). To draw an
analogy, he is saying that he needs to open the “trunk” of his memory and share
from the treasure trove memories of God’s blessings and lessons. To do less is
to cause the next generation to lose knowledge of how God has worked in the
past, lose valuable lessons that could impact their lives today, and possibly
rob them of the hope that God may work in a similar way in the future.
In my role as Pastor at Large at Lancaster
Bible College, I spend most of my time with students that are decades younger
than me. Each day I have coffee or lunch with a number of them and we talk
about life. They share the burdens of their life and I relate to them things
that I have experienced in my life’s journey with the Lord. Sometimes what they
are experiencing is foreign to me, yet often there is a Scriptural principle
that comes to mind that may relate to their situation or give them
encouragement. We can always pray together. Age makes no difference when one
comes to “the throne of grace to obtain mercy” (Hebrews 4:16). Additionally in
my role I minister in churches and to pastors of all ages. Sometimes pastors
just need to share a burden and I listen. Sometimes pastors need to hear of how
God was faithful in another pastor’s life that made big mistakes, faced large
discouragements, and saw God pour out His mercy and grace. All I am doing
either with college students or pastors is “proclaim… your power to those who
come.”
Many of us can do the same thing I do in
my role. I have seen teens this summer talk to children and “proclaim God’s
might.” I observed older married couples mentor younger couples who are wanting
to strengthen their marriages. It essentially requires two qualities: interactions
of the various generations, and a willingness to want to listen and learn from
one another.
Sitting around my son’s kitchen table and
looking at pictures generated great conversations of God’s faithfulness in our
family. My son remarked, “It was good to do this.” There was a great value for
me too. In sharing the memories the pictures sparked, I too was recalling the
way God has worked in our family and in me. Too often memories fade unless the
stories are reviewed and shared. Our lives are more than a tweet. They are a
book with many chapters that need to be reviewed and shared. There is a
tremendous value of various generations opening up the “memory trunk” together
and sorting through both the painful and pleasurable experiences of life. Those
memories contain many life lessons. Perhaps it is time to stir up the fires of
our memories!
