Mementos in all kinds of shapes and sizes

"In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." Josh 4:6-7 (NIV)

I have a large collection of plastic cups in my kitchen. My collection started when my first son moved on from breast milk and bottles to holding his own cup as a toddler. It was always important to me that my children drank plenty of milk, so the only real choices I gave them were about the cup their milk would be poured into. "Do you want your milk in the red cup or the blue one?" (Note that I rarely asked them if they wanted anything else but milk to drink.) Each boy adapted to their favorite cups and life went on with plenty of spilled milk in the process.

Zoom ahead twenty some odd years in time. I still have a bountiful collection of plastic cups in my kitchen. Two whole shelves in the cabinet closest to the refrigerator are their storage and selection display. Some are mementos from restaurants, others are take-homes from trade shows, retreats and school fundraising events. I do have some cups that actually match each other - like they were part of a complete set - but mostly they were used during those "have-to-be-fair-and-give-the-same-amount-to-both" years of parenting. Some of them have barely recognizable logos and images on the sides, while others have indelible stains and scratches from non-milk related activities in the backyard.

The collection of cups is worth little to anyone else but a mom who remembers her grown children's once tiny hands wrapped around them and the simultaneous milk mustache that occurred. Each silly old plastic cup has a fond memory for me tied to it.

Does God have fond memories stored up of our close times with Him? Does He have mementos about those quiet times while reading His Word that we "spilled the milk" of our problems, insecurities, circumstances and brokenness before Him? Do we still have the "cups" stored in our heart cabinet of times of nourishment and refreshment with God?

I love knowing that God wants us to remember close times with Him in our spiritual lives. From Noah to Revelation, the Bible recounts stories of people building altars to worship God and remember what He's done in our lives. Stopping to praise God after every battle, after every journey, after every milestone is important - to us and to God.