Long before man created Blu-rays and MP3 players, before DVDs and CDs, before digital cameras and audio recorders, before movie cameras and cassette tapes, before film cameras and vinyl records, before glass plates and wax cylinders … long before any of these, God created memory.

Memory.  The ability to relive moments from our past in vivid detail.  To revisit scenes so beautiful they fill our hearts with longing; to recall people so close they flood our eyes with tears; to remember love so pure it pierces our souls with pain.

Long before technology, God created in man the ability to experience so much more than just what happens to sit in front of him at the moment.  We have invented poor imitations of His creation, longing to defeat the inexorable decay that affects our memories as we age.  But our every attempt fails … because the value of the sights and sounds we capture in technology is totally dependent upon our memory – the one human, fallible link.  If we do not remember an event’s significance, all the memorabilia from that time and place will have no meaning.

O Lord, thank you for memories.  Thank you for all you have done for us.  May we especially keep alive the memory of those who’ve touched our lives such that we will never be the same.