Reflection:

My mother turned 90 recently and her six grandchildren filled a glass jar with ninety memories of her. Each memory was an example of her goodness towards them. If you were to fill a jar with memories or ways that the Lord has been good to you, what would you include?

Let me tell you about one way the Lord showed his goodness to me 40 years ago. My Dad was diagnosed with cancer and died eight weeks later. I had many precious opportunities to talk with him and share my faith. I read Psalms aloud as we sat in the sunshine, or while sitting at his bedside.

A dear friend, living in the U.S., wrote me a card to tell me she was praying, and filled it with passages of Scripture to offer words of encouragement. I received it the day he died. This is what she wrote:

“‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him.

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call on me, and I will answer him,’

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honour him.

With long life I will satisfy him

And show him my salvation.’”

Psalm 91: 14-16

A letter written two weeks earlier had arrived when most needed. I found such comfort and peace reading these verses and then the rest of that Psalm.

My father was too sick to speak in the few days before dying. But he could open his eyes and they communicated much. I had held his hand and said, “Dad, you know God loves you; all you need to do is believe in Jesus and ask, ‘Please take me home.’” He opened his eyes and looked at me. I prayed that the Lord would hear my groans and his silent prayers.

God, in all his splendour and majesty, was there in that moment of loss and anguish. He knew just what I needed. He saw my need and provided a rich reminder that he was with me.

This was a taste of God’s goodness that forty years later I still remember and treasure.  There are so many other memories in my ‘jar of goodness’. Sometimes, as I take them out in my mind, the remembering fills my heart with thankfulness and awe.

Dear reader, what memories of God’s goodness are in your jar? Why not take out one today, taste of that goodness, and let it fill you with a song of joy and thankfulness.

Prayer:

I praise you, Father God, for glorifying you is the most important thing we can do. I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you, for you are good to me, and you have compassion on me. Help me to fill a jar with memories of how you have been good to me. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Song: Goodness of God – The Worship Initiative, Bethany Barnard

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