A Future Worth Remembering
The Jackson County Historical Society, which is a group of history lovers in our community, meets each second Monday of the month at the Jackson County Museum. The museum is a former newspaper office which was a former church. Here we sit in a circle of folding chairs, surrounded by old toys and musical instruments and a dental chair and a moonshine still and beautiful old clothing with tiny, tiny waists and antique furniture and a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
We peer over a table of history books about our county and the families who have lived here and models one of the members has made to represent the first fort in our county and the oldest house in town. We hear the treasurer’s report, the minutes of the last meeting, reports on how things are coming on the latest grants our group is trying to get to repair the museum and the historic school nearby, and my personal favorite, Evelyn’s report on the museum. Evelyn is the lady who mans the museum when it is open for part of the day on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The last statistics I remember are: 39 visitors from 5 states and a total income of . . . oh, about $36. As you can see, this is a low-budget operation.
Occasionally we have an outside speaker, but not often. What I have described is our pattern, except for December. That’s when we meet at our house. I bustled about for most of the day yesterday, getting ready for our annual historical society Christmas party. I really do look forward to it all year. They are such a very nice group of people and always so appreciative. As history lovers, it is fun to be with other history lovers. What they know and remember amazes me.
Last night we gathered in one room for a brief meeting and to say the blessing before we all headed for the table piled high with the finger foods everyone brought.
Our club president led us in prayer. He thanked God for:
- the history we love, and
- the opportunity for us to share this love together; and he asked for
- a future worth remembering.
A future worth remembering. I have never thought to ask God for that before, but I love that idea. A future worth remembering. That’s how I want to live my life and that’s how I want my children and grandchildren to live their lives, too.
It would be wonderful if every person alive would make that commitment, but that is not something we can control. We can make the commitment ourselves though, so let’s do that. Let’s live every day fully under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That will be a future worth remembering.
I came that they may have life,
and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
Instructions for Centerpiece
Maybe your children (who are old enough not to put things in their mouths) would like to recreate my centerpiece from last night. You need 6 large pine cones, three little pine cones, a platter, an appropriate plastic or ceramic figure (mine is a horse and sleigh from my very inexpensive Christmas village I’ve been collecting since the late 1970s), and the cheapest table salt you can find. Instructions: Arrange pine cones and figure on platter. Pour table salt on top of the centerpiece until you have drifts. I thought mine needed a little sparkle, so I added some tiny silver bells.