Making Memories - Martin Wiles

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. Genesis 3:8 NLT

One by one, the pictures came from my daughter by text. Twenty-year-old pictures. Pictures I’d never seen and didn’t know she had.

My daughter was reminiscing—something her busy life lets her do only occasionally. This time her memories took her back twenty years to a three-day hike she took with my middle brother and me. A hike we started at Carver’s Gap, Tennessee, on the day after my younger brother got married. A hike that began with a steep climb up log steps, but a hike that then carried us over bald after picturesque mountain bald.

None of us had ever witnessed such sites in person. Now, my daughter wants to go again. But she’ll have to take her boyfriend this time. Age, disease, and accidents will keep my brother and me from going—although we’d like to.

But the hike was not all about the scenery, even though the trail carried majestic sites. The hike made memories of time with family. Memories she’s now reflecting on twenty years later. We walked, talked, and sweated together. She was only twelve at the time, but the memories are etched in her mind, never to be removed.

Adam and Eve had some good memories, too. We don’t know how long they made them before sin entered the picture and God booted them from the garden as punishment, but prior to the Fall, they enjoyed walking and talking with God in the cool of the garden.

Technology has impacted the making-memory process. I love technology—its convenience and the expanse of its reach—but I also miss what it has taken away. When I visited family and friends in person rather than through text, email, messenger, and Instagram. When I actually hiked with someone rather than just looked at pictures. When busyness hadn’t taken me away from the more important things.

Making memories with others through shared experiences brings value to relationships and enhances our short lives. But as important as these relationships are, they don’t compare with the even more important shared experience we should have with God. He’s given us His Spirit, His Word, and His people, and giving personal time to them all helps us make memories that trump the temporary pleasure technology often delivers.

Take time to make memories, especially with God. You’ll never regret it.

Prayer: Spirit, may we make precious memories with You and others.

Tweetable: How are you making memories?   

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