Old cigar boxes are wonderful because that’s where we can put all manner of useless stuff that’s too meaningful to throw away. We have one containing some old political campaign buttons. One says, “I like Ike.” There is an Adlai Stevenson button, two Nixon buttons along with a Kennedy.
I had quite a debate once with someone who thought our memories would be wiped clean in heaven. He based his position on Isaiah 65:17. “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” I thought he was a bit nutty. For what would be the use of this life and the lessons learned if we couldn’t remember anything? The whole point of growing up is to learn and become a better person because of the mistakes and avoided mistakes of life. If God was going to wipe our memories clean why not just start us out there and forget all this pain and suffering?
So what does Isaiah mean? Have you ever had a great week somewhere that was so wonderful and so busy that you never even thought about anything else? It didn’t mean you couldn’t remember. You could if you needed to. You just didn’t need to. I actually think we get to have some of our meaningful useless treasures with us in heaven. Cigar boxes filled with buttons and bows. (My wife has her mother’s hair bow. It means a lot.) But aren’t cigar boxes sinful? No. Things aren’t sinful. People are.
Life is made up of memories. The future hasn’t happened yet. Now is but an instant. 99.999 percent of life is memories. Without them we would be useless unprogrammed droids.
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 11, 2015
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org