Guymon Daily Herald

Memories—A gift of God that will last

- CROSS CURRENTS By Gene Shelburne

On a major holiday recently, my lady was clicking through the TV channels looking for something to watch on that idle afternoon. From our adjoining indoor patio where I was goofing off, suddenly I heard the sweet barbershop harmony of “Lida Rose.” Nita had found our favorite Broadway musical/movie—Willson and Lacey’s Music Man, and I was thrilled to hear their inimitable (but funny) barbershop quartet crooning its lines.

“Music Man” tops our catalog of musicals, partly because more than six decades ago it was the first movie my lady and I attended together after we were wed. For that reason alone, we’ll always love it. But we still agree that it’s one of the best that we’ve seen since then.

In today’s Hollywood/ Broadway milieu, this classic is rare indeed, because its sole purpose is to entertain. No social snipes. No political pandering. No racial references. No vulgarity or profanity. Just relaxation and fun. “Music Man” always blesses us, and I’m certain that it will always be one of our prized memories.

Did you grow up (as I did) singing, “Precious memories. How the linger! How they ever flood my soul!” Do any of us have a greater, finer blessing than our memories?

Not all of them are blessings, of course.

All of us know that. We can’t erase the indelible scars of our own worst mistakes or of the gross abuse some of us have suffered at the hands of others. Those awful memories will last forever. But for those of us who have found God’s grace in Jesus, even recalling our own worst sins can bless us. Whenever we remember them, those memories make us freshly grateful that God has forgiven us for so much.

In one of his memorable songs, the late Cathedrals bass singer, George Younce, tells us, “Memories are one gift of God that death cannot destroy.” In its context, that line likely is saying that even after we bury a much-loved spouse, the memories of our good times together will live on. But in numerous Scriptures, the Bible expands this idea. In story after story it often seems to imply that even when we leave this life and go to heaven, our memories will go with us. Even death will not destroy them.

If this is true, what does it tell us about the kind of memories we need to be creating right now?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Gene Shelburne is pastor emeritus of the Anna Street Church of Christ, 2310 Anna Street, Amarillo, Texas. Contact him at GeneShel@aol.com, or get his books and magazines at www.christiana­ppeal.com. His column has run on the Faith page for more than three decades.

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