Excerpt from 1 John 3:14 - 19

"We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

The other day the water heater in my basement sprung a leak, and I prepared myself to write a big check. What I did not prepare myself for was to be awash in memories.

But water had filled a large plastic container of photographs from my parents' home. As the plumber installed a new water heater, I carefully pulled wet photographs from those old sticky albums and dried them out on the kitchen counter.

I found pictures of my first cat, followed by pictures of her first batch of kitchens, followed by pictures of her second and third batch of kittens. Eventually, I found a picture of a bunch of cats gnawing on a turkey right out of the Thanksgiving serving dish on our old kitchen counter. The inmates were clearly in charge.

My fourteen-year old daughter and her friends were snacking at my own kitchen counter as I dried out the old photos. I was happy to provide the comedy for their evening. I just wish the source of it hadn’t been my mullet haircuts and home permanents.

There were old school essays, report cards, and chatty letters to my parents, now both deceased. In one note from church camp, I asked them to mail me a picture of my prom date. I suppose I was in need of evidence that I had one.

And of course, there was my first published essay, from an airline magazine that had had a contest. I would love to know how I came to enter it, but the ones who must have encouraged me to are now long gone from this world.

Today is my son's eighteenth birthday. When he is my age, will he think that the faded crinkled images of his childhood are worth saving, and worth fighting for? 
Like me, he will probably find some evidence that his childhood was not perfect. Did my parents really celebrate my confirmation day with a cocktail party?

As a child, I wanted to take any images of my family's imperfection and wipe them clean. But as an adult, I want to wipe them off in order to preserve them - just as they are.

Happy birthday, Calvin.

Prayer

May the God of real life and true experiences walk with you always. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

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