For Sentimental Reasons


 

Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth 1 Chronicles 16:12

And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, “This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

 

Sentimental. According to the dictionary it means, “of or prompted by feelings of tenderness, sadness or nostalgia.” The synonyms listed are, nostalgic, tender, dewy-eyes, affectionate and loving.

          Just the other day I was praying and as I expressed my love to God I thought of the words from the Nat King Cole song, “I love you, for sentimental reasons.” Immediately I felt guilty for minimalizing my love for God. It felt wrong but as I began to apologize, God stopped me. My mind was immediately flooded with images of my life, as a child, teen, young adult and on. The images were of moments of closeness to God, not all of them happy but all of them important, enduring and tender. I knew then, that though my love for God has many facets and ways of expressing itself, sentimental reasons were not only okay but necessary. 

          Revelation 2: 4 says, “Yet I hold this against you; You have forsaken your first love.” When we forget those things that drew us to God it is too easy to walk away from Him. It is those very memories of closeness, of rescue, of discipline and forgiveness that help us remember that God is faithful and omnipresent.

          I love God for myriad reasons and the sentimental ones are quite plentiful because, and I have to PRAISE God for this, my walk with him has encompassed the majority of my years. When I go to the sentimental reasons I can see Him in places and events I may have forgotten.  

          Sometimes memory lane is my enemy. It is a road filled with missteps, shame and missed opportunities. When I see my memories in the perspective of what God has done for and in me, I become quite tender, nostalgic and sentimental. Quite the opposite of being irreverent, it turns out that sentimental reasons are more proof of God’s goodness.

          Go ahead, sing it to Abba today. Thankfully he does not care how well or poorly we sing. To our precious Lord we all sound like Nat King Cole. God will love to hear the song and you will remember your own sentimental reasons.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Really god, where are you?

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning to noon.”Baal answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said, “Surely he is a god! Perhaps his is deep in thought, or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18:26b-27 Those who know me would be quick to tell you that I am a bit sarcastic. It’s a quality that I have passed on to my children and even some of my grandchildren. Some days I feel a little guilty. Is that really a quality that God wants to see in me? Certainly that cannot be my go to attitude but there are times that it comes in quite nicely. This morning, reading a totally unrelated verse, I was reminded of this account in the first book of Kings. (It begins at verse 16 and continues to the end of the chapter. I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t and it if you have reread it. It’s great!) In this p
Read more

My Offering

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also love you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2 Standing in my kitchen, I was praying that what I was putting together for a friend would convey what I want her to know, that I so deeply appreciate her. As my mind spun around what can I add? What would she really like? Is this enough? I had to laugh. That is so often my prayer, “Lord, I don’t have anything to give. I don’t give enough. What can I possibly do?” and on, and on and…. Well, you get it, I’m sure. May I just say, GOD IS GOOD! (Yes, I know the caps mean I’m shouting. Yes, I am shouting!) While I was preparing my “gift” I was thinking about how often I feel that I don’t do enough, for friends, for family, for my hubby and certainly for God. I had music playing, another pretty typical occurrence. The Third Day song, “Offering” started to play and I started singing along.
Read more

God Only Knows

    Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again; Rejoice! Let you gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7   Anyone who knows me, know that I am very skeptical of anything that presents itself as a formula to get closer to God. It’s as if we have to follow certain steps in a certain order to get His attention or receive His mercy. I am much more an advocate of crying out from the naked, transparent depths of my heart. Trusting that the God who created me and loves me is not checking the order of my steps as I run to Him.           Today I’m going a little bit of a sidestep from that. This morning while praying three phrases came to my mind and heart and immediately I knew they weren’t just for me. Som
Read more