Last Wednesday evening, I spoke at a church in Duncanville (a suburb of Dallas). The occasion was their Wednesday PM summer series. Like a lot of churches in our area, they bring in guest speakers to speak to their adults during the summer months. This particular setting was very casual. We were in a very large room with round tables scattered throughout. Groups of people were seated at the different tables looking very relaxed and at ease. These people seemed to enjoy being together.
At the beginning of this message, I mentioned that I went to Dallas Christian School. I then told a story about my junior high math teacher, "Mrs. Cummings." She was an outstanding teacher. In her class, I actually understood and enjoyed math. Anyway, I mentioned that Mrs. Cummings told me (and a number of others in her class) on a number of occasions to "pay attention." Those words have somehow stayed in my mind all of these years as I’ve thought about the importance of staying focused on what really matters.
After I finished speaking, an older gentleman came up to me. He appeared to be about 80 years old. He said that he used to work at Dallas Christian. I looked at him and thought he looked somewhat familiar. He said that he used to be the principal there many years ago. I remembered him. He was the principal when I was in the second or third grade. (This was a very small school in those days and there were really not that many people to remember.)
What I remembered was a snapshot of the past. I remembered that he was tall, athletic looking, with short blond hair. For some reason, I remembered him in a cream colored suit. Now he is much older. Yet, my memory of him, my snapshot of the past, was very vivid and real.
Do you have snapshots like this? Clear memories of how some people looked? I suspect you do.
I also have other snapshots that are meaningful to me. I can recall conversations where someone said something so encouraging and meaningful to me. As I think about some of these mental snapshots, I can almost hear some of these words again even though a few of these conversations took place many years ago.
As I think about my own snapshots (the ones stored in my memory) I am thankful for these significant moments.
Maybe today, you and I will be a part of someone else’s snapshot. Maybe something said or done will be worth remembering. You never know. You and I just might be surprised at how significant this day might be to someone else.
I spent yesterday at home sick in my recliner. I spent most of the day reviewing these "snapshots". (I was too sick to even read). It is funny the power they can have on you.
I have many of those memories. What bothers me is I can walk from one room of the house to another and have absolutely no idea why I am in that room!
Just this week, I went to a new doctor I picked at random from the insurance list. As he was doing his new patient interview, he asked where I was born. A little more conversation, and I discovered he grew up 3 blocks from my childhood home. He’s 4 years younger than me, so I didn’t know him at the time, but we were in elementary school at the same time. We swapped gym teacher stories and neighborhood kid names during the exam.
It’s funny how one encounter like this flings open a forgotten memory photo album.
Sometimes, when I’m with my grandson, I’ve found myself wondering which of these moments are going in his album.