My Journey’s My Own

A Devotional

For most women, and definitely moms, this job falls to us. We are the keeper of the memories. We are the photo takers, the artwork keepers, the documentors, the birthday card keepers, the story tellers. Oh one day, grandpa will be the one telling the stories, but we all know that those may be a little enhanced for the listeners pleasure and possibly changed over the years too.

But memories, we keep them. We cherish them. We post them. Am I right? 

Baby books and scrapbooks whether they are digital or tangible, we try our very best and when we fail to meet the expectation that only we set for ourselves, we are so unforgiving. It is incomprehensible to us that we may disappoint our children and not have their memories preserved properly for them, when they come asking for them. 

But when will that be?

Will it be when they are grown and moving out? When they get married and start their own homes? When they have their first child? Or maybe when it’s time to welcome our first grandchild? The honest answer to this is…who knows? It’s different for everyone. 

When I was a small child, being the youngest of my five siblings, I came too late to know all my grandparents. So I only heard stories and saw pictures. I clinged to these memories. I am a strong sentimental person. I cherish my heritage and my family tree. I long for those whispers of the past. I dream of what those people were like, their lives and the paths that they chose that made my life possible. Because without them I wouldn’t be here and neither would my children. 

I feel this so strongly that I made sure that all four of my children had their memories, having each a baby book (yes they’re complete) and multiple school and scrapbooks. However, when the fourth child came along I realized how hard it was to keep up with these documents of their lives and it made me more forgiving of myself when I couldn’t stay up to my own standards. 

As mothers we have to give ourselves grace when it comes to time. But keeping the memories is so vital to our children, telling the oral stories of our families and their little lives before they were grown give us all nostalgic laughter around the table. It keeps those beautiful souls alive for those who didn’t get the pleasure of knowing them like we did. 

Just like the long (and yes very boring) genealogy lists in the Bible that God wrote for us, our very own baby book, it’s something tangible we can leave for our children and grandchildren. For even if they don’t seem interested now, they may start to become interested later. Later, when our memories may fade or we may have left this life. Capture it now. While it’s fresh. Think of it as a way to download your brain and leave it here for your kids. 

Actions/Questions

Start small, label your photos. Who is in the picture and when/where was it taken? This includes your Facebook and Instagram. Edit the Captions.

Do a basic family tree. Start with you and go backwards. Include the following: Full names; date of birth; place of birth; Date of marriage; place of marriage; Date of death; place of death; place of burial. Going back just two generations is amazing to most young people now. That’s just your grandparents! 

Have you told your kids their birth story? Everyone has one. How’d you find out they were coming? What was their birth like? Who came to see them? Etc.

Tell them stories about your favorite people that they haven’t met. A grandparent or cherished Uncle or Aunt. Bring out photos of those people, make them come alive for them. 

Verse

“Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.” Deuteronomy 32:7