YOUR bedroom’s a mess! “It’s not!” I tell my friends, “It’s a clutter of memories!” “A clutter of what?” they gasp, “Just look at that air cooler on which all your books are kept, why d’ you need it here when the room’s air conditioned?” “Ah!” I tell them, “that cooler reminds me of days when my sick father came to stay with me and my little one filled the cooler every night with water and then would quietly add ice from the fridge so dad could have cool breeze during the night. She did it without anyone telling her to, but her actions night after night touched my heart!”
Here’s an experience of someone who was suddenly told to evacuate his house because of an impending fire threat: “We packed suitcases with a few clothes and toiletries and set them by the door. Then we took a hard look at all that remained. There was a lamp that belonged to my great grandmother. It was a connection to my family.
And there was the piano my wife learned to play when she was a little girl. Not of great value in itself, but another family connection. We would be leaving an old rocking chair that belonged to her grandfather and handmade quilts and gifts from dear friends and family. All represented connections to people and memories we value, but if we were to be evacuated immediately, we would have no way to move these items.
I’ve never been much attached to things, but the thought of leaving behind these connections to beautiful past incidents saddened me deeply. It’s about what they represented — family and love. Each had a story to tell, and some of them spoke in the voices of our parents and grandparents and a few friends as close to us as family.
The fire never reached our home. We were lucky. And though I felt grateful that all was spared, I realized also just how fortunate I had been in another way. I saw just how rich my life had been in things that brought memories back to me.”
And that’s exactly how I feel as I look at the clutter around me; it’s a clutter of memories that binds me with chords of love! I don’t know whether my friends are convinced, but they don’t call it a mess anymore. They look at an old plaque on the wall, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
I smile and tell them of the many times I’ve fought thinking I’m all alone and then realizing my God is standing by me! “Could I ever throw out that plaque?” I ask. They smile, walk into my sitting room, and don’t criticize my old rocking chair, which has another clutter of memories..!
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
