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“It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:23 ESV)
It was the saddest Christmas school assembly that I'd ever experienced. I left as a devastated six-year-old. The evening had included a gift exchange arranged earlier through drawing names. One by one, the principal announced the name printed on each present, soon followed by an excited child scurrying to the front to grab it. I waited eagerly for my name to be announced. But it never happened. There was no gift with my name on it.
That evening, my parents drove home a sobbing little girl. They tried to console me with a present from under our family tree. But it wasn't the same. Really, this wasn't about a missing present. It was about not being remembered, and that left a painful vacuum in my soul.
That childhood memory keeps me aware of the human longing to be remembered. Maybe that's partly why I enjoy Christmas. It's a season when we gather to remember one another.
I've always appreciated the various tangible ways that others say to me, "I remember you!" Sometimes, I record such connections in my "Diary of daily blessings". But also, I'm aware of the miserable human plight of the countless ones who have no one to reach out to them. Deep down, their souls cry out, "Oh, please remember me!" They crave some tangible expression of mercy, love, and affirmation.
Really, isn't that what makes Jesus' advent still relevant today? This Christ Child came to be our heavenly Father's tangible means of saying, "I remember you!" Christ is our personal gift on Whom our name is written. Through receiving Him, our soul truly discovers its worth — as expressed in the song, O Holy Night:
“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.” (Oh Holy Night by Adolphe Adam)
Mary believed that her unborn Son would fulfill this ancient promise. She expressed it this way: "He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." (Luke 1:54-55 NIV)
I encourage you to ponder God's magnificent covenant promise. Think about it till you find yourself swept up by its enormous impact. Think about it as God remembering us — forever — yes, by restoring estranged sinners to Himself! It's the hope so desperately needed — for young and old, for our families, for you, me, everyone.
Let us each now ask ourselves, Howwell do I sense that desperate soul cry, "O, please remember me!" How well do I myself sense God remembering me?Surely, that's what stirs us to plead:
Prayer: O loving Saviour, Who came as the "holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Immanuel." (O little town of Bethlehem – Phillips Brooks) Amen.
Copyright © 2022, by Diane Eaton <d.eaton@PROTECTED>, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca
Paisley, Ontario, Canada
Used with the permission of PresbyCan and author.
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