Pastor Craig T. Owens

Calvary Assembly of God

810 17 Mile Rd, Cedar Springs

www.cscalvary.org • http://craigtowens.com

Memorial Day is just as it sounds: a day for memorializing. It is important for us to remember the past, and honor our heroes, or else, as George Santayana said, “Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it.”

So without discounting Memorial Day at all, I’ve been wondering about how to create memorials for the other 364 days of the year. A year ago I gave myself the challenge of writing down three unique things everyday for which I was thankful. I did this publicly on my blog so that everyone could see my list of 1095 things as the year progressed. That was helpful, but perhaps not the most practical.

Then I read this verse in the Bible about a memorial. The Israelites had just accomplished something great with God’s help, and their leader Samuel wanted to make sure that they never forgot how God had helped them. So the biblical account says, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far has the Lord helped us’” (1 Samuel 7:12).

Samuel set up a stone, and he named it. (By the way, the word Ebenezer simply means “helper.”)

So this is what I’m doing to try to memorialize the blessings for which I am grateful. It might be a coffee mug that memorializes a special family trip, or perhaps a bookmark that a child made for you on Father’s Day. Or, maybe it’s a dried flower from the wildflower arrangement your daughter picked for you.

The point is not what the “stone” is, but the memory or blessing it signifies. Set it up and name it. And then express your gratitude for it every time you see it or use it. I have found that we can never count our blessings too often, nor can we ever be too grateful to the God who provides them.