RECENTLY, A GOOGLE calendar notification reminded me that, on that day in 1994, I had first met my wife. It’s been 30 years. Incredible!
You might think I am a genius for remembering that, and I’ll let my wife continue to think that, but I didn’t remember it.
However, at times in my life, I have kept a journal and I found the day when I was in college and wrote, “So I met this girl today…” And thus I have a record of when we met.
I put it on my Google calendar years ago and it repeats the reminder annually.
My mother recently passed away, and while she wasn’t much of a journal writer, she made a wonderful scrapbook record of her life history, including where she was born, some stories from her childhood and some of the highlights of her life.
I have immensely appreciated these memories.
My mother-in-law passed away a couple of years ago.
Several years ago, when the grandchildren were young, she made a little handwritten book about her childhood growing up on a farm in Moody Creek, Idaho.
She called it “Stories of Ruthie.”
She wrote about things that she may have found very humdrum, like milking a cow or riding her horse out to a quiet place to read. But these stories were thrilling for her grandchildren.
She included various drawings of things like farm animals and her father’s tractor.
My sister-in-law put it together into a book and published it on Amazon so that each grandchild and great-grandchild could order a copy.
What a treasure!
I delight in reading the journals of my ancestors, finding their histories and seeing their pictures on FamilySearch.org.
They had real struggles. They had magnificent joy.
They experienced tremendous failures. They saw success. They found faith in Jesus Christ.
They lived interesting lives.
Some things were vastly different than our modern life.
Other experiences are very relatable.
I find it fascinating to learn about their occupations.
One of my ancestors was a stone mason, another was a farmer, another a printer and another was a carriage builder.
Some have rich stories recorded of their lives.
Others have very brief histories, maybe only a paragraph. And unfortunately, some have no history written at all.
Some of my ancestors immigrated to the United States.
In looking at their information, I might see that they were born in England and died in Pennsylvania.
Imagine the experiences they must have had coming to America on a ship.
Most would never return to their homeland.
Fortunately, some have a photograph or two.
Although, that only goes back to the 1800s. Those born before that time have no photographs.
I wonder if they could have possibly imagined that someone in their posterity, 100 to 200 years later, would be reading their story.
I have speculated as I have written about my experiences, if I will someday have some of my posterity reading about me.
If we don’t write about our lives, who will?
Who will record our history?
What seems mundane to us might be incredibly gratifying to our posterity 100 years from now.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is a culture of record keeping.
We are encouraged to keep a journal or personal history.
Much of our scriptures are available today thanks to prophets, scribes and historians who kept records.
We live in an age when it is probably easier than ever to record our life history, and it’s exceptionally easy to access our family history and genealogy.
We show that we love the Lord when we remember Him and His blessings.
Let us record those blessings.
We are commanded to honor our father and mother.
We honor the generations that have gone before us as we remember them and learn their history.
We help future generations remember us when we leave them a record.
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Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. Bishop Jason Bringhurst is the leader of the Mount Pleasant Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Port Angeles, ComeUntoChrist.org. His email is jasonbring@gmail.com.
