Is Your Memory a Blessing…Or Curse?

Great Aunt Mildred was a cantankerous old soul, quite stern in all her mannerisms. Every family has at least one sinister relative. And yet, there was something rather comforting about my old aunt. As a child, we visited the orphanage (The Home That Love Built) that she helped run deep in the back hills of Eastern Kentucky. And, of course, being young and trusting, I believed the stories I heard from another close relative: Aunt Mildred was terribly unpleasant. Yet, when I talked to her, I had a distinct suspicion otherwise…

Years after her death, while talking to my Grandma about family history, she gave some interesting insight into the life of my Great Aunt Mildred. We talked about her years of ministry and service to the indigent deep within the Kentucky hills. Not only was she a school teacher, but also a nurse who was responsible for traveling by donkey deep in those hills to deliver 267 babies throughout her lifetime, all without the aid of a doctor. There was no child that she turned away. There was no call for help left unanswered. What a wonderful heritage to leave our family!

“The memory of the righteous is a blessing,
but the name of the wicked will rot.”
~Proverbs 10:7

In God’s faithfulness, he made sure the memory of my aunt became a blessing, in spite of hearsay from one who only sought to divide the family out of their own bitterness. The tables were turned! King David often asked the Lord, “How long Lord?” The Lord’s timing is not our timing, but His plan is always perfect…even if that plan does not come to fruition until long after we are gone.

Don’t fret about your reputation…Rest in the Lord’s faithfulness today.

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