“Thanks for the Memories,” Bob Hope would sing as he closed out countless performances on stage. Wouldn’t it be interesting to write your own lyrics to that familiar tune? I think I will! You could compose a personal song of thanksgiving this year; provided you still know the combination to the vault of your memory banks!

The term “Kodak Moments” was more than a slick advertising gimmick .Often I encourage families at memorial services to pull out photo albums, old home movies, or video tapes to rekindle those treasured times. Those recollections, some of which are thankfully captured on camera, become well springs of joy that enrich life beyond measure.
Deuteronomy 6:12 warns, “Beware lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.” How easily we forget the blessings of our God! Most of us have a problem with forgetfulness. Someone said, “We tend to remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember!” This Thanksgiving I intend to remember what I should remember! Would you join me in gazing upon some mountaintop memories? Perhaps my recounting might trigger a precious memory or more of your own!
LORD, thanks for the memories of sitting at the kitchen table while Mom flipped my eggs over easy so I could slop up the runny yellow stuff with my toast and wash it down with a glass of icy cold milk before the long, treacherous walk to school. A walk that took me across traffic-congested streets lined with snarling pit bulls and second grade bullies lying in wait to steal my milk money or abscond with my lunch box! Of course, in the winter, Mom served hot chocolate so I wouldn’t suffer from frostbite by the time I trekked those many miles through three-foot snow drifts battling wind chill factors of fifty below while dodging ice balls thrown by crazed third graders. (At least that is the way my first grade imagination saw it!)
LORD, thanks for the memories of hitting 400 foot homeruns during end of season traveling team tournaments in which enthusiastic coaches enlisted me to play. I eagerly agreed to join those squads oblivious that Dad would need to take precious vacation time to chauffeur me from field to field when his real passion was to catch bass or walleye on the lake. Or maybe his real passion was to watch his son hit a 400 foot homerun? (I know the number on the fence read “250” feet but they were WAY over the fence!)
LORD, thanks for the memories of trembling in a white tuxedo as my knees kept time with my bongo drumming heart until the moment my bride appeared so radiant down the aisle …and my heart stopped. At that sacred altar, we would promise to “love, honor, and cherish” each other and have kept those vows for over thirty-five wonderful years. (I seem to recall that she vowed to surrender the remote for “watching Monday night football, NCAA March Madness, and the World Series.” I thought the pastor included that clause! She must have forgotten that part!)
LORD, thanks for the memories of my precious little girls. Singing “Jesus Loves Me” and playing Candy Land and watching Bugs Bunny and reading Dr. Seuss soon gave way to marching band and pom-poms and teaching careers and wedding bells. They went from diapers to diplomas much too quickly. (Can they ever know how much they mean to me?)
LORD, thanks for the memories of forty years of ministry. Preaching the good news of Jesus to high school friends, traveling from church to church in college student led revival meetings, working with teens on mission trips, and  being pastor to some of the finest folks this side of glory has brought tears of joy as well as tears of sorrow to my eyes.
LORD, thanks for the memories of grandbabies who hug my neck and wrap my heart around their ever-growing fingers. Each energy-zapping moment delights my soul but causes me to wonder why we couldn’t we have had grandchildren when we had the strength to keep up with them?  LORD, thanks for the time we have left to make life enriching memories for them to celebrate when they reach their fifties!
May we never forget that You, LORD, are the Source of our lifetime of blessing!