Memories


Reflections by the Sea
© Betsy Ore Glass
November 25, 2009

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. -Psalm 100:5 NIV

The photograph today is of the cottage my family owned when I was a youngster. It was a new little beach box that was painted yellow with white shutters with a large deck that overlooked the ocean in Kitty Hawk. Our “Yellow House by the Sea” was the setting for many family get- togethers. We enjoyed coming from Virginia especially during the off season in October and November and again in the spring. We rented it out in the summer but always saved a week’s vacation for ourselves. We all felt a sense of freedom and joy when we were at the beach. That feeling remains with me today. Televisions and telephones were not luxuries we enjoyed. Instead, we found entertainment in exploring, playing, and shelling during the day and bundling up in the evenings on the webbed lounge chairs on the deck with hot chocolate to hear the ocean waves or to seek shooting stars from the sky above. We would get to stay up late at night to join our grandfather as he turned on his short-wave radio, where we heard of places far away. Our church friends and extended family came often to enjoy my mother’s fried fish at the special picnic table that my father had built. Puzzles, talks and playing cards occupied us as we spent time with each other. We sold that little yellow house but took our memories with us. Many years later, an October nor’easter claimed the house and took it out to sea. The walls and windows were lost but our memories were left intact. No one could take those from us. Those memories of youth and family time have carried us all through good times and bad.

With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas approaching, this tine of year it is the season where families make every effort to get together. Some families see each other often. But there are many families that don’t get to see each other because of distance. My husband and I spent Thanksgiving without family this year due to distance so we know first-hand how cherished those times are when we can all come together at one table. As the anticipation of Christmas approaches, find a moment to pray. Ask that God’s presence be felt when families do come together and any offenses are pushed away by love, laughter and joy. Ask that new memories will be made if having to spend special occasions away from loved ones. Above all, showing love in all we do is the best way to honor this season and to honor God.