Elephants Remember

In my last blog post, I talked about how God sometimes gives us places that serve as Ebenezer stones of remembrance in which we have seen Him working strategically in our life during a specific season or over multiple seasons. These are places that upon our return, we are given the gift of vivid memories we maybe had not accessed in a long time, and upon thinking back on them in a new season, we can see with fresh eyes how God was moving in our lives even when we couldn’t see it at the time.

There is another type of remembrance stone I wanted to address in this post, and this is a tangible gift God gives us that we might carry with us throughout different seasons (as opposed to somewhere we go back and visit periodically over time). For me, this is in the form of elephants (which is funny because I don’t have any special affinity for elephants or any real emotional tie to elephants that I can think of). Allow me to explain myself…

As mentioned in the previous post, two years ago to this very week, I was laying on the couch of Side A of the BMU guesthouse duplex. We had just found out that I was miscarrying our third child, and we were contemplating how we were going to break the news to our then 2yr old and 4yr old. We decided we would go out to a crafts market and we would purchase a little “farewell gift” from the baby to give to her siblings as something to remember her by. So we went out, and I brought back two stuffed elephants that we gave to the girls when we told them that the baby that had been growing in Mommy’s tummy had already gone to be with Jesus and was not going to be with us any longer. It was a bittersweet gift that our kids still cherish and talk about.

Fast forward to the one-year anniversary of Rosie’s homegoing (which happens to be one year ago now). We were back in the US on our first Home Ministry Assignment. Instead of being by ourselves in a guesthouse, isolated from our support system, we were back in our hometown and surrounded by family and friends who were rejoicing with us over the birth of our new son.  I was sleep-deprived and exhausted walking in to church, but was delighted nonetheless to see that someone was selling African Christmas ornaments for a ministry in West Africa that morning! I told Olive she could pick one out for our tree that year, and she returned with a cute little elephant that we brought home to put on our tree. It wasn’t until we were on our way home from church that I looked at the tag that read where the ornament was made, and saw the “God-wink” connection with our story. Though the funds were being raised for a ministry on the opposite side of the continent, that little elephant was (of course) made in Uganda. It (of course) was also being sold in the middle of October, on the exact anniversary of when I gave our girls Ugandan elephants the year before in memory of the baby we had just lost. He remembered. The God who held my tender empty heart the year before had remembered that date... and He was reminding me to remember as well.

Fast forward to the second anniversary of Rosie’s homegoing (this week). We are yet again in transition, having just finished a return trip to Uganda where we have been saying goodbye to friends and closing the door to a chapter in which we saw God meet us in some of our deepest struggles. On the tail end of the trip, we stayed with a dear missionary friend in Fort Portal where we got a day of R & R before toting all of our belongings cross-country to Kenya. To be honest, my heart did not have the capacity at this point to engage in more reflection and sentiment. We’ve all been sick, the one-year old has been waking up multiple times throughout the night, the kids have been needy, and the logistics of a cross-country move have been all-consuming for the last several months. But, as we were putting the last of our things in our bags, my friend Pat said, “Is this little elephant yours? Why don’t you take it with you as a little memento from your time here…” as she placed it in one of our kids’ hands while getting in the car. It was just a fleeting thing she did as we were getting ready to leave, but what she didn’t know was that Jesus was actually ministering through her to me in that moment. He was saying, “I know you’re tired. But, don’t forget. I still see you, and I still remember. It’s October, and I give the gift of elephants in October…”

Elephants are known for their keen memories. And so, even though I don’t have a sentimental attachment to elephants, I am keenly aware of how God specifically gives me the gift of them on or around October 18 each year, as a little reminder that He remembers. Life might be busy and chaotic, and I might be focused on the easier anniversary to rejoice over (our wedding anniversary on Oct 16), but the fact that He has sought me out over these last 2 years and each year unexpectedly given me a stuffed elephant from Uganda, makes me all the more enraptured with a God who does not forget our sorrows, and who intricately orchestrates all things for our good and His glory. 

Do you have any tangible Stones of Remembrance that you have carried with you through different seasons, or that you have seen God gifting you with over time? My prayer is that He would continue to open our eyes to the personal and intentional gifts that He delights in giving us that point us back Him being the Author of our stories and the One who holds the depths of our sorrows and the heights of our joys.

This is Life.