...And now for something completely different
written by Timothy M. Nall

My mother has a photograph of some of our relatives who lived before the turn of the century. It's very interesting to look at their clothing and imagine how their lives were different from ours. No air-conditioning, no telephones, no running water; traveling on horseback or by mule-driven wagons. What few hospitals there were in those days were very primitive, and they were certainly a long distance away from my relatives, who were all poor farmers in the countryside of Kentucky. Sometimes I even try to look into the eyes of the faces staring at me from more than a hundred years ago, to imagine what they thought and felt...Were they happy? Did they live with many regrets? Did the women love their husbands, or did they marry out of economic necessity? Were the men kind and loving; did they speak tender words to their wives and sons and daughters? Neither the clothing nor the expressions of the faces in the picture tell me much of anything. Their voices are silent.

The thing that's really remarkable about my mother's old photograph, though, is one young woman who is staring intensely directly at the camera. While I look at her, trying to guess what she thought and felt, it almost seems that she is trying to peer through the camera's lenses to catch a glimpse of me, far in her future. Startlingly, this young woman looks exactly like my mother did at that age. I don't mean she merely resembles my mother, that wouldn't be unusual at all. No, I mean it looks exactly as though my mother put on those outdated clothes and stepped through a door in time, to stand before the camera. It's impossible to see any difference between my mother and this woman long dead.

All of us worry, at one time or another, about whether we'll be remembered after we die. Some people spend hundreds of millions of dollars building many different kinds of memorials for themselves or their loved ones. When they spend money to try to buy some influence on the distant future, they are trying to buy something they already have. It's impossible for any of us to avoid leaving our mark on the future. Even if we have no children to carry our names and our physical characteristics into the future, we have all touched the lives of other people and influence them, for better or for worse. A piece of each of us lives on in the hearts of those we've helped or hindered as we walk through life.

Perhaps we shouldn't worry about whether we'll be remembered, and worry instead about what we'll give the those who come after us. As Jesus said, "it is more blessed to give than to receive" Acts 20:35. We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, and perhaps we should consider whether or not those who stand on our shoulders will be blessed by our influence. A few words or deeds done in the name of Jesus, and a few words of guidance which tell others about our Lord - these should be our memorials; our gift to the future.

...I will never be the same
for I have seen faithful love
face to face
and Jesus is his name

-- these words are from a song I'll track down soon...