Today's Prompt: Reflection**
This year at Christmas, when my son was home with his wife, we spent time going through scrapbooks I had made. As we were looking through them, I realized I hadn't added any pages for several years. All those memories and pictures are stored online. Unless I print the photos out and scrapbook them, we will not have them to reflect back on as we sit around the table.
The ability to reflect on our life, laugh at ourselves, and learn about others is valuable. For me, reminiscing and sharing stories are part of my delightful life.
God sees reflection as an important part of our life also. In Joshua 4, the Lord instructs the children of Israel to create a memorial out of stones, encouraging them to remember how they crossed the Jordan. So when their children asked about them, they would be told this story. God knew it would be necessary for Israel to reflect on what He had done. They would need this reminder for the upcoming battle for the promised land they were about to face. Their children would need to know about what God had done for His people and would do for them.
If you listen closely, you can almost hear them.
Stories told generation from generation are precious, but easily forgotten. That is the joy of having something tangible to aid your memories. That pile of rocks gave them the opportunity to share the wonders God had done.
Scrapbooks, photo albums, letters, and journals all do this for us. They are our form of those stones of remembrance. I remember spending hours with Mom reading letters my great-great aunt had saved. We had so much fun reading about the everyday lives of her and her sisters. We even learned a few secrets that had been kept hidden.
Nowadays, most of our photos are on a phone or computer. It can be expensive to print them, then decide which to use in a scrapbook. If that is your case, you might want to try digital scrapbooking.
There are templates you can drop your pictures in, and easily add journaling. One of my favorites is Canva. Here is an example.
https://www.canva.com/scrapbooks/templates/
They have a free version that will work nicely. I use it to create the graphics and photos for my blog and the notebooks I sell. If you are unsure how to use Canva, there are many tutorials that will get you started. Also, I'd be glad to help; just send me an email.
Once your book is ready, you can download it to a print-on-demand company like Lulu or Blurb. They will print one or more copies for you.
Keeping a prayer journal is another excellent way to pass on the wonderful and amazing things God does in your life. Keeping letters and postcard is another.
How are you leaving memorials for your children and grandchildren?
**This post is part of the #write28days Challenge, writing and posting EVERY DAY in February
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2 comments
I love the storytelling grandpa! Yes, we must tell our stories and having something to look at and remind us is helpful as we pass the legacy on to the next generations.
Yes, I love the term “stones of remembrance.” In fact, my first blog has a section titled Stones of Remembrance, and I file all the funny family stories I can remember under that tag. I have done a bit of scrapbooking, but that is another activity I’m saving to do when I retire and have extra time!