Remember and Don't Forget!

Hey parents! Here’s a fun activity for you to do as a family!  

God is a God of remembrance.  Many times in the Old Testament (New Testament as well), He institutes a festival or holiday for the His people to commemorate a specific day.  Think about Passover.  The Israelites were to celebrate Passover as a remembrance of the salvation they experienced by the hand of God out of Egypt.  Think about the Festival of Booths we read about in Nehemiah.  This was the time they were to remember how God took care of them while they were in the wilderness.  Also there are the days of Purim.  This is the festival that celebrates how God saved them from genocide at the hand of Haman that we read about in the book of Esther. Think about the stones set up on the banks of the Jordan river in Joshua as the Isrealites crossed over the Jordan on dry land as they entered the promised land.

I think one of the reasons that God wanted His people to celebrate these many holidays was so that in the hard times, they would have something to point to and say, “Today may be hard for any number of reasons, but I know God is faithful.  He took care of us at this time in the past, so He will again.”  This is true for us today as well.  Many Christians don’t celebrate these holidays, but we can still celebrate regularly what God has done for us, but only if we remember.

So the activity today is to create a wall (or posterboard) of remembrance.  The memories for your wall of remembrance can be absolutely anything that has happened in the life of your family where God showed up and showed out!!  An example from my family is the fact that God healed my oldest son so that he could come home from the hospital after being in the NICU for 8 days.  You can add any pictures of the time (or person), a memory verse or two that were helpful to you at that time.  Also, commit to adding to this wall as time continues.  Return to it every time something happens in your lives when you see God moving.  When the hard times come, as a family you can look over this wall and know that God sees His people and is still moving, even when we can’t see or feel it.

You could connect this with a study of any of the times that God instituted a holiday or day of remembrance in scripture.  What a cool way to help teach our kids to turn their eyes to God in the hard times!

“Keep this word.  It’s the law for you and your children, forever.  When you enter the land which God will give you as He promised, keep doing this.  And when your children say to you, ‘Why are we doing this?’ Tell them: ‘It’s the Passover-sacrifice to God who passed over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt when He hit Egypt with death but rescued us.’ “  The people bowed and worshipped.” Exodus 12:24-27

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