Monday, October 21, 2013

Hazel Forever

You would have loved my grandma! I surely did. She was a wonderful, warm, gracious
woman who could really cook a mean bacon cheeseburger. Thinking about her
brought some realizations to me about the length of time we are remembered by
those who come after us. Obviously, Hazel's siblings, followed by her children and grandchildren would all recall her. Her children, however, have all passed on and
grandchildren, also, are aging and some have passed on already. After that, there
will be photographs.. but all active memories will have passed.

We all have this desire to be remembered, to be important to those we love, to
make a lasting difference in their lives. I don't believe that this is prideful; I believe
that it is in our nature to feel this way. Jesus commanded His disciples to break
bread and take wine so that they would remember Him. While I am sure that
He wanted them to derive strength from what he had taught them and to keep in
mind His promises to them that He would return, He definitely felt very
strongly about these men and wanted them to keep Him in their hearts until the
Holy Spirit was indwelled.

In the old testament, God is angry when His people forget Him and go astray
hunting and worshiping other Gods. He is a "jealous" God who wishes to be their
one God without any other. He commanded that they remember Him and follow
His commands.

So Hazel has moved on and the list of those who knew her becomes smaller and
smaller as time goes on. This is what will happen to all of us who are mortal and
whose time on this earth is fleeting. Yet Hazel and all of us who love Jesus and
believe that He, indeed, is the way to salvation and eternal life in the presence of
God, lives on, forever, thanks to God's grace and loving-kindness. She is not 
limited to three generations of existence; she lives on among those who have
been ransomed through the blood of the Lamb of God. She is with those who
knew her, here on earth, surrounded also by those who are in Heaven living with
and praising God. I have a feeling that there are many folks there who have also
come to love the smell of bacon cheeseburgers! Praise God!!!

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