“That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them... And these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.”
The Feast
After crossing the Jordan River miraculously, Joshua instructs twelve stones to be set up specifically as a memorial, anticipating a future moment when children would ask what these stones mean, providing a deliberate occasion for the story of God’s faithfulness to be retold, generation after generation.
This is worth noticing as a specific strategy for remembrance, not relying merely on oral tradition passed along whenever it happens to come up naturally, but a physical, visible marker, deliberately placed, specifically designed to provoke the question that opens the door to retelling the actual story behind it.
This offers a practical model worth considering for your own life. What memorial, physical or otherwise, might you establish specifically to provoke future remembrance, a deliberate marker ensuring the story of God’s faithfulness in your own life gets asked about, and therefore retold, rather than simply fading unmentioned over time.
Consider today establishing some version of this memorial for yourself, a specific object, tradition, or marker set aside deliberately to commemorate God’s faithfulness, ensuring that like these stones, it remains for a memorial, prompting the retelling this whole book’s first movement has been building toward.
Keep the Feast
- Consider what memorial, physical or otherwise, could commemorate God’s faithfulness in your life.
- Establish one small version of this today, even informally.
- Tell someone today the story such a memorial would represent, practicing the retelling now.
Prayer
Lord, help me establish memorials, physical or otherwise, that provoke the retelling of your faithfulness. Let the story of what you have done not simply fade unmentioned. Amen.
Carry this today
Physical memorials provoke the question that opens the door to retelling.