MEMORIES!
DO 1825
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"Remember Thy Creator in the Days of Thy Youth!"--Ecc.12:1--A Family History!
1. I REALLY THINK WE SHOULD NOT ONLY HAVE RECOGNITION OF BIRTHDAYS, BUT I THINK THE 12TH BIRTHDAY IS VERY IMPORTANT! That's the birthday I had just before I started keeping that Diary that you read when I was 13. You're becoming fairly mature at that age if you're fairly serious & sober-minded as I was, & you really are spiritual & love the Lord. I think particularly in our Family that our young people are almost extremely precocious, they're unusually mature at an early age, even the little ones. So I think birthdays are very important events to recognise & remember.
2. SO THANK GOD FOR BIRTHDAYS! If there hadn't been a lot of birthdays you wouldn't even be here, would you? And the Lord must believe in nudity because you're born with nothing but a "birthday suit" on. As the Apostle says, "We came into this World with nothing & it is certain we can carry nothing out." (1Tim.6:7) Everything else will be left behind except our Salvation, thank the Lord, & eventually our immortal bodies.--That's something to look forward to! I keep getting more & more things about Heaven. The Lord really must want us to be thinking about how wonderful Heaven is! TTL! But if you would never have been born, you'd never get to go to Heaven, would you?
3. YOU CAN NEVER SAY ENOUGH ABOUT BIRTHDAYS, REALLY. AFTER ALL, THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST WONDERFUL EVENTS IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE, OTHERWISE YOU WOULDN'T BE HERE! And the next most wonderful event, of course, is when you're born again. Can you remember both? Well, maybe you can't remember the first one, but at least you can remember when because you were told. I presume all of you here know when you were born, either that or you probably wouldn't have a passport! So birthdays are important & I think it's good to give them a little recognition & a little help to remember them.
4. THERE ARE USUALLY TWO DAYS IN THE YEAR THAT I CAN GO BACK THROUGH THE YEARS & REMEMBER WHERE I WAS ON THAT DAY, EITHER MY BIRTHDAY OR CHRISTMAS, & I THINK YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER SOME THINGS LIKE THAT. You guys always go to the extreme. I said, "Forget the Past!" (No.1598), so you want to forget the whole thing! I meant some kinds of that ancient history that is irrelevant to the present & that we don't have time to go into detail on today. But there are some things you need to remember! God's Word says many times in the Bible to remember.
5. BUT ANYHOW, THERE'RE SOME THINGS YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER: "REMEMBER THY CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH, ERE THE EVIL DAYS COME." (Ecc.12:1) Can you think of some more Scriptures about things you're supposed to remember? (Fam: Remember the landmarks.) Yes, "Destroy not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set up." (Pro.22:28) The Lord says many times about remembering His Word, He even says to wear it on your forehead!
6. SO THERE ARE MANY THINGS THE BIBLE SAYS YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER. Maybe we ought to have a special study on remembering! Since I already told you to forget, now I've got to remind you to remember! That's what you do every New Year, you remember the past year. You can be thankful that you had so many wonderful accomplishments & victories--& we usually have & do--& you can also be thankful it's over! I'm thankful for every year of my life, I'm thankful for all I've accomplished, but I'm also thankful they're over. I don't particularly want to re-live'm.
7. WHAT OTHER VERSES CAN YOU THINK OF ON REMEMBERING? (Fam: "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.") (Heb.2:1) That means to remember. (Fam: The Holy Spirit brings things back to our remembrance.) (John 14:26) Right! (Fam: In Communion He says, "This do in remembrance of Me.") (1Cor.11:24) Right, there's a common one we use all the time. (Fam: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, & forget not all His benefits.") (Psa.103:2) "Forget not", that means remember too! (Fam: "Forget not to entertain strangers.") (Heb.13:2) Right! And the Lord said, "He that considereth the poor in his affliction, him will the Lord remember in his hour of distress." (Psa.41:1) (Fam: Jesus told His disciples, "When these things come upon you, remember that I have told you.") (John 16:4) Amen. So the Lord wants you to remember some things! (Fam: "And a book of remembrance was written.") (Mal.3:16)--The Book of Remembrance! That's the title of one of our Books!
8. IF WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER ANYTHING, WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING WRITING ALL THESE LETTERS ALL THESE YEARS, ANYHOW?--I'm trying to make you remember a lot of things. One of our most important courses in the early days was memory work, & it's still supposed to be. We used to really memorise a lot of Bible verses & I hope you still do, or at least some verses. Maria's cooked up two whole books of new verses to remember, her Quotebook, "The MOP"! There are lots of things in there you'll want to remember. So there are some things we need to remember.
9. THE WRITERS OF THE GOSPELS & THE NEW TESTAMENT WERE CONTINUALLY QUOTING THE OLD TESTAMENT, remembering it & using it to authenticate what they were saying, to prove that it was the Truth.--Because, of course, the Jews were supposed to respect the Old Testament, the Law & the Prophets, so they would quote it to'm. But as Jesus said, "They have Moses & the Prophets, if they will not hear them, neither will they believe though one should come back from the dead." (Lk.16:31) So it doesn't do some people any good to remember if they don't want to believe. Anybody else? (Fam: "My Son, forget not My Law, but let thine heart keep My commandments.") (Pro.3:1) Amen!
10. I WANT YOU TEENAGERS TO GET THIS: I WAS MORE CONSISTENT, MORE FAITHFUL, MORE DILIGENT, & IN SOME WAYS MORE IDEALISTIC, MORE OPTIMISTIC, MORE HOPEFUL & apparently had more faith that something would come of those Diaries that I kept so faithfully for those three years, '33, '34 & '35 when I was 13, 14 & 15, & also over to 16. I was just a young teenager. Our youngsters are already starting their Diaries, even earlier than I did mine.--David at 9!
11. MAYBE IF YOU'VE RUN OUT OF VERSES ABOUT REMEMBERING THINGS, THERE ARE A LOT OF VERSES ABOUT "FORGET NOT" & some things which the Lord tells you to forget. (Fam: He says He won't remember our sins.) (Heb.8:12; Jer.31:34; Psa.79:8) That's a good one! He doesn't say He doesn't remember them, He says He doesn't remember them against you. The Lord knows & remembers everything, but He doesn't remember them against you.
12. SO IT'S GOOD FOR YOU TO FORGET SOME THINGS & IT'S GOOD FOR YOU NOT TO FORGET SOME THINGS, AS I GAVE YOU THAT FIRST VERSE: "REMEMBER THY CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH." (Ecc.12:1) I'll never forget the first time I heard that verse quoted to me by my drunken Uncle John, my Mother's younger brother. He died fairly young, I think he was about in his 50's, practically in a bum's flop house. His family wouldn't have anything to do with him any more, but my Mother loved him & she went to see him & took me along with her. She was witnessing to him & trying to encourage him & make sure that he was saved etc., & that made a tremendous impression on me because my Mother was reading to him out of the Bible, giving him verses to try to give him the assurance of his Salvation.
13. THEN HE SAID, "GIVE ME THAT A MINUTE!"--GRABBED HER BIBLE, THUMBED THROUGH IT & SAID, "I WANT TO READ SOMETHING TO DAVID." He knew the Word. He said, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them."--And he burst into tears. He said, "I want to give you that verse, David." That touched my heart, I cried too, that he was concerned about this young man. I was very young, probably about nine, & he wanted to make sure I remembered the Lord & I didn't get into those evil years which he had now entered & in which he had no pleasure because he'd strayed so far from the Lord & become such a backslider, & was living in such misery in which he died, sad to say.
14. SO MY UNCLE JOHN GAVE ME THAT VERSE, "REMEMBER THY CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH!" I'll tell you, I never forgot that, that's for sure! I thought, "Boy, I don't ever want to be like him!" I took his warning seriously, I really tried to remember my Creator in the days of my youth, & I believe I did & I think you'll find that's true in these Diaries. You've had '33, '34 & '35, & now you've had '41, the War Year, & '42, the Year of Deliverance, that makes five years of Diaries I kept. As I say, I had a few entries for '36 but then I really got busy traveling with Mother. That's a poor excuse, but when you read how busy she kept me you'll wonder how I ever had time to keep a Diary at all! I usually had to stay up at night when I could hardly hold my eyes open before I went to bed to try to keep it, because if I didn't do it right then, I didn't do it.
15. I'VE FOUND THE BEST WAY TO KEEP MY DIARY IS TO KEEP IT HOURLY. I've often set my watch with that little chime just to remind me, "What did I do this last hour?" It's not too hard to remember what you just got through doing for the past hour & to jot it down, & that's why our Diaries are set up that way, to keep them by the hour. But if you wait even till the end of the afternoon, I just challenge you to remember everything that happened that afternoon & about what time it happened! You'd better keep it by the hour or every time you think about it. I keep it right there beside me when I'm working, right there by my pen, so that every time I have to reach for my pen to write something down or to correct something when proofreading etc., there's my Diary & I'm reminded immediately.
16. YOU MAY NOT THINK THAT IT'S ALL WORTH REMEMBERING &, "OH WELL, WHY WRITE DOWN THAT SILLY, RIDICULOUS, INSIGNIFICANT, UNIMPORTANT THING?" But how do you know it's unimportant? How do you know that maybe someday it will be interesting & important to someone else? I never dreamed that my Diaries would be that important & it must have been the Lord that I kept them at all, I figured probably nobody would ever read'm but me, & I didn't even read'm again until I had to read'm for your sake! (Fam: A verse came to me, "Despise not the day of thy youth, for thy latter shall be greater than thy former.") (ITi.4:12) PTL! It's a good one!
17. WELL, AS I LOOK BACK NOW I CAN SEE THE LORD'S HAND IN IT ALL. I told you to forget the past, but there are some times you need to remember, & you're remembering a lot of my past as you read these Diaries. At least I kept Diaries pretty faithfully for about five years.
18. THE ONE THAT I REALLY ENJOYED READING AGAIN THE MOST IS THE YEAR 1967!--But I'm ashamed to confess that they jumped from '42 to '67, about 25 years! Actually I made one entry in '44, just after I'd met Mother Eve. I'll tell you, once you get married you don't have very much time to keep a Diary, especially when you start having children! You're doing pretty well to keep up with four kids, much less your Diary!
19. BUT THINK OF ALL THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN THOSE YEARS OF MINISTERING WITH MOTHER--THE MIRACLES, THE ANSWERS TO PRAYER, THE MARVELOUS SALVATIONS! You talk about the Acts of the Apostles, if we had those Diaries to read today you would be thrilled with the marvelous things that happened in Mother's ministry. But those things were wonderful & I often felt very guilty & conscience-stricken because I had not kept a Diary. Day after day the Lord's Spirit would speak to me & remind me that I ought to keep a Diary, but pretty soon if you harden your heart, truth resisted loses its power over your conscience. I just sort of used the excuse, "Well, I'm too busy, I'm too tired, it's too much trouble." I'd keep it a few days & then I'd quit. But that's no excuse for you! If you take time & do a little bit every hour, you'll keep it up.
20. THERE MAY BE SOMETHING THERE YOU'LL NEED TO REMEMBER SOME DAY! You may have to be a witness in court or you may have to give your testimony or life story some day. A Thousand Years is a long time & you're going to have an awful lot of use for a lot that you've learned & a lot that you've experienced & a lot you'll be telling other people & training & teaching them in the Millennium! Maybe they'll be reading your diary one of these days! Amen? PTL! GBY!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family