Almost midnight here in Tennessee and I am making spaghetti.  I plan to stay up tonight to work on my closet, which is frankly a bit frightening.  I needed a snack.

I am often amazed when a sight or a fragrance will trigger a memory. Tonight simply the process of boiling water and immersing the pasta brought memories of being just pre-preteen. My brother Matt would come home from a date and I would wait until I heard him in the kitchen, then I would sneak down and we would eat spaghetti in the middle of the night.

I wonder what memories my children will have of each other…what things Maddie will do that will imprint on her brain and spirit memories that are connected to sights and sounds and smells.  What conversations she will have with her brothers late at night when everyone else is sleeping.

And of course, as these things go, this sparks another awareness.

There are sights and smells and sounds that trigger remembrances of God. Some are remembrances because He has emblazened them on our spirits…..

A rainbow. How can we see a rainbow without thinking of promise.

A Cross.  We cannot see without thinking of Christ, of sacrifice, of salvation.

A Dove. The Holy Spirit springs to our thoughts.

Incense. For those who have been involved in high church, incense brings worship as a community to mind and that experience of having a hush before the worship begins.

Grape Juice. Okay. Could be wine. That tart taste and strong smell….a flood of thoughts of communion, of mystery and community.

Our lives are infused with memories and icons and touchstones….so many words we can attach to these things. They are witnesses….some witnesses of fear and anxiety and wounds that have been imprinted on our spirits by those who have abused us. Some are witnesses of joy and comfort and belonging and peace that have seeped into our being in moments of wholeness.

Above all, for those of us who believe in a Creator who has made us in His Image, we are marked by the touch of a Living God. The sunset, the dove, the rainbow….everything we encounter…can bring Him to our thoughts and remind us of Who has made us and who we are.

We are His. We are marked and sealed and held in the care of a Living God. That changes everything.