Memories

Scripture Union Holidays have taken me to a variety of locations over the last 23 years (always as a leader, I just wanted to stay at home as a child!).

One of the more bizarre was a very large house in Wales called Kinmell Hall. My memories of the holiday are a bit vague after 16 years but they include; a very cold (slightly slimey) outdoor pool, miles of long corridors, and strange ornamental gardens.

These memories were awakened the other day when I visited an SU group. One of the leaders recognised me. After a short chat we realised that we had both been at Kimnell Hall. She was there as a teenage "camper" and I had been her group leader. It was brilliant to meet her again and to find her leading an SU group.

It was good to remember, not just the holiday, but the God who had brought us both through all those years, to meet again in a primary school in Lanarkshire!

Memories can take us to sad places, of days gone by that we wish would return. That kind of remembering can be crippling, when we think "how good it was...".

There is another kind of remembering. When we think back to when we knew God close, times when He helped us or comforted us or we were touched by the reality of Him - these memories can support us in the present. Whatever the present reality may be.

We need each other to do this. In the dark times we need other people to gently walk with us, and tell us again the stories that bring God close...