What's On Your Mind '09 - Stones of Remembrance

What are your Stones of Remembrance? The idea is taken from Joshua 3-4 and simply explained in this post

Actually, the idea of Stones of Remembrance is not a new idea to me. This topic was introduced when I was participating in the "Experiencing God" bible study written by Henry Blackaby. We discussed the story of the children of Israel crossing the Jordan and God instructing them to build a memorial, one stone for each tribe, serving as a reminder for future generations of what God had done for their ancestors.

You see, God knows how we are, and how quickly we forget what He has done for us.

As a class, we talked about what we could do to leave stones of remembrance for our families. The general consensus seemed to be leaving journals and scrapbooks. A lot of us already do that to preserve family heritages. But what about spiritual heritage? What can we do to tell future generations about God's goodness?

One method is storytelling. In fact, that's biblical. We are to discuss scripture and God's ways over and over to our children.

Deuteronomy 6:7 "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

That's storytelling. And what better way than to make it personal? Tell them the story of when you realized you were a sinner and needed to go to the altar.

When my dad was dying, he was concerned because he didn't want his grandchildren to forget him. I told him not to worry because I would tell them all about him. And I did. In fact, I did told them so much over the years, they began to roll their eyes when I mentioned something he did. I guess I did too good a job!

This works best when your children are little. What about if they are older?

If you are reading this blog, you probably have a blog of your own. Why not set up a category on your blog called "Stones of Remembrance." Write about all the spiritual experiences you have had, and those you can remember of your parents and grandparents. Or you could even have a separate blog for remembrances. Make it a closed blog and only invite relatives if your stories are too personal. At some point in life, your children will be curious about their family and then they can read all about how God has shown Himself strong on behalf of His children.

I understand there are companies that will even publish your blog in a book form, and then those that do not care to use computers can read your "stones," too.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss has written a great article on this subject and has several ideas for memorials. You might want to read some of her ideas here.

I really regret that I did not think about how important learning about family heritage and spiritual heritage is until most of my family had passed away. I want to make sure that doesn't happen for my grandchildren.

After all, what's more important than telling what God has done for me?

Visit Shane at Heart Reflections and see what others have to say on this topic.