Henry Blackaby says “God’s people are His preserving agents for a world that is corrupted and degenerating because of sin. Your life is designed and commissioned by God to enhance a community and to preserve what is good and right.” (from his devotional book)
Does that leave you shuddering at your task of being a preserving agent plus nodding your head that he described well the world we live in? (Blackaby’s world was the late 1990’s as he wrote this. Hmmm, still fits, right?)
Where is this preserving agent responsibility found? Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.”
But this is my week to talk to you about photos, life stories, memorabilia and legacies. So, what gives? It was the “preserving agents” title Blackaby put on me that triggered me thinking about what my focus should be in these way-too-busy days I am living. If I don’t prioritize, I just spin through a day not able at the end of it to enumerate very many worthwhile accomplishments.
So, I saw a prompt from a fellow “preserving agent” who has the same side hustle I do in helping people with their photos, life stories and family history work. She shared how she dealt with her dad’s home when he died 20 years after her mom and the “family furniture” pieces were in the same place and condition as when her mom left the earth. They had been purchased by the mom after early years of military life and lots of moves. More to the point, they had tons of memories for this surviving daughter.
So she moved them to her house – the huge dining table with 2 leaves and a hutch full of special items, and more of what her mom called “real furniture” that represented stability to the mom. But she noticed that when her daughter came over for dinner, she would give the “side eye” to the furniture she had rescued and installed in her home. While she had great memories evoked by these items, her own daughter did not.
Realization dawned for me as well. I had been the recipient of my grandmother’s couch, coffee table and desk plus my great grandmother’s tall secretary (which had lived in my mother’s bedroom after my G.G. passed). I loved my grandmother’s furniture and house and those items from her were treasured and full of memories for me (and included the cigarette burn from an untended cigarette on the coffee table in the leather insert portion which my mother caused – much to the consternation of my grandmother). I smile every time I see it – it was such a typical picture of my mom’s habits and of their relationship. I love how my grandmother and G.G.’s furniture feels in my home. It evokes wonderful memories, and interesting stories to be told.
And I worshiped my great grandmother, G.G., so her secretary desk is in my living room with my special items in the glass hutch top. It has an amazing aura of memories as I envision two of the places she lived when I got to visit her as a young girl – and I am flooded with a warm feeling. She always asked about my activities and my life which felt so special. (Adults didn’t do that in my growing-up years.) And I can see her ever-present handwork – amazing quilts and some special items she created just for us come to mind – she did all of these as a bedridden person. And she wrote us kids letters – rhyming sections of her message to make us laugh. I thought she was so smart, bright and clever.
BUT, as my fellow history lover noted, my kids have absolutely no interest in these furniture items and I am certain they will NOT end up in their homes. I also realize that if my later years require a smaller space, these items will disappear.
Blackaby’s comments on the salt of the earth added another perspective. He said our lives are designed and commissioned by God to enhance a community and to preserve what is good and right. And the evidence that we have been used by God as a preserving agent is that things are becoming spiritually better around us instead of worse.
Oh yes, my grandmother was a godly woman who played the organ at the First Baptist Church and always took me to church with her (wearing gloves with my Sunday best clothes, of course). She loved Billy Graham and made sure we watched him when he was on TV – and we talked about his message. And she transferred much to me as she taught me to do needlepoint and sew on her treadle machine. Plus her $10 checks that came at unexpected times to my college mailbox were lifesavers. I have her desk which resided in her living room – I picture her writing those checks and letters and then, as was her habit, getting in the car and driving to the post office to mail it immediately. Plus my G.G. lived through terrible times, the suicide of her husband around the stock market crash of the 30’s. Yes, they both loved me well and these furniture pieces bring back the precious memories.
So, I have the same plan as my fellow history lover. As part of my overall photo management plan and memory preservation efforts, I will take pictures of each special piece of furniture and put them in my FOREVER storage account which has a generous “description” place which becomes embedded data. In that space I will write the special memories and stories that accompany that piece – preserving the meaning and memories for future generations.
Like the dark cherry carved wood twin beds that are in our basement guest bedroom – they are from my grandmother’s house. Always in a middle bedroom of hers where we slept when we visited, I grin as I remember the sliding door between it and their master bedroom which really didn’t keep out the sounds. I heard their perspective on the world, unfiltered, long after I was supposed to be asleep. It was rich.
But my consistent and precious memory is of my grandmother, after fixing her husband’s lunch for which he came home daily. She kept us quiet for his precise nap of 20 minutes after which he returned to work. Then she rested all of her 5’2” frame on the twin bed in the middle room with the daily newspaper held out and open above her – primarily the recipe section. I can still see her in that position – and if I walked by, she would remark about a particular recipe that looked promising or invited thoughts of what we could have for dinner.
She was a gourmet cook, especially of desserts – fudge, brownies and pralines come to mind. Her meals were marvelous productions and delicious fails as an adequate description. It also reminds me that she went to the grocery store “daily” – yes, every single day except Sunday. It always baffled me until she told me that much of their early life and marriage they only had an ice box to keep things cool and it was not very dependable as to temperature.
Later, as I read her “homemaker” textbook from high school (early 1920’s), I discovered some systems even allowed the ice man to put the ice in one’s “box” from the outside and the homeowner accessed the box by the inside door of the icebox. And one was still dependent on the “ice man” delivering in the neighborhood with an elaborate sign-in-the-window system to let the ice man know you needed him to stop and how much to deliver. Of course, I then wished I had known enough at the time to ask the details of her “daily” life.
So even if my furniture pieces do not survive me, the photos, stories and memories will be preserved for future generations in my Forever digital storage – yes, my kids already know about that cloud storage and have access to it as it will be available generations beyond me, and them, and not take up any space in their homes. Not susceptible to fire, storms, flooding or minimalist children and grandchildren, these memories will be preserved and instructive and encouraging to descendants. I would LOVE to have something like this from my great-great grandparents – how about you?
Another good point I read is that research has demonstrated that children raised in families where past memories and stories are shared grow up with better self esteem, increased resilience, and higher emotional intelligence.
So it’s your turn – how will you enrich the lives of your descendants? I encourage you to look around your home for prompts like furniture is for me, or think about your other types of treasures and memorabilia, or even a special story about a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent.
What ONE STORY or memory will you write down, today, with the goal of preserving a memory of someone who was “salt” in your life? We are here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth as we love people for who they are. And how will you preserve that keepsake and memory?
I’m here for you – let me know how I can help.
