Remembering…

What a sweet word for me…remembering. So many times in the past six years, I have remembered. I sit down at the computer keyboard and the memories pour through my fingers onto the screen. Remembering creates warmth in my heart for those I loved long ago and now.

Why did my Grandmother Anna Suderman painstakingly record her days? Did she know it would give her grandchildren a vivid word picture of her life?

Anna Loewen Suderman told of her wedding of March 8, 1900. A spring snow made the dirt roads almost impassable to the church. The wedding sermon – yes, sermon – was based on Jeremiah 32:37-42.

Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.

Surely the words of that portion of scripture were often remembered in the years that followed…And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them and of their children after them.

Between 1900 and 1916, Grandma gave birth to ten children. She and Grandpa raised six and she writes, “the other four were lent to us for just a short time.” The trips to the cemetery with the tiny caskets four times were with breaking hearts and tear-filled the eyes.

In 1911, Grandpa Gerhard’s hand was crippled by a crosscut saw accident. How does Grandma write about it? “We have our share of trouble, but we were thankful we could share our grief and the Lord gives comfort to them that seek comfort.”

My memories of the farm were bullet points in my life – word-pictures that have survived time.

Grandmother stooped over picking vegetables in the fenced-in garden

Grandmother gathering eggs on a summer evening, in her apron

The musty cellar that contained hanging cured ham, rows and rows of fruit and vegetables and a basket of potatoes dug from the garden

The scraps of potato peelings, left over food that went down the sink drain into the slop bucket, to be fed to the pigs

Uncles coming to the house in the evening with buckets of fresh

The wood cook stove in the kitchen firing up to cook fried potatoes

The company parlor where the huge hand-cranked phonograph player stood

The happy laughter of my uncles and aunts

The aroma of flaky Tvaybach (zeibach) baked by Grandma Suderman

Rides on Molly, the gentle farm horse

Pumping water by hand in the bathroom to fill the pitcher

The deep snow in the winter as far as the eye can see that obliterated the fence posts on the side of the road

At Christmas, pepper nuts, hugs, saying our pieces, singing Christmas carols with rich harmony and listening to the Christmas Story in Luke 2

Prayers on our knees – listening to the prayers of Grandpa and Grandma, their six children and assorted spouses, followed by the grandchildren

Singing the family song – (Translated from German by Anna D. Siemens) – Come, brothers, quit your lagging,. Come, we must journey on. For all our restless struggle Of life will soon be gone….Chorus – In my heavenly home, There is rest for my soul, There is sweet rest, There is sweet rest, There is rest for my soul.

Looking out of the upstairs bedroom window where Mom found the evening star when she was a girl.

These memories become sweeter as time goes by and give me strength.

There are more than 200 admonitions in the Bible to remember…Why? Is it so difficult to remember Who made us and gave us life? Do we understand how God desires a relationship with us? Is it so difficult to give Him thanks? The distractions that surround us in this world draw us away unless we keep our eyes on our Lord.

Some of the scriptures to remember are these: – On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Psalm 63:6

– Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Matthew 16:9

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Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? Mark 8:18

– Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 
 2 Timothy 2:8

– For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12

– Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 
Revelation 3:2-4

The trickle begins so slow – And soon the torrent will flow….Remembering….

The yester-year is near, and today becomes less clear…. Remembering….

For I know that God’s Hand guides guides me through this land…Remembering….

I awake from my reverie-stroll, knowing that remembering makes me whole. And I am remembering….

(A portion of a painting by Tyler Robbins, entitled Remembering a Past Farewell)