Photo by Rebecca Tredway Photography
I am not a Pinterest parent. I have never made my children’s snack food into the shape of a Disney princess, I have never taken a castoff sweater and repurposed it into a tote bag, and I’ve never made anything out of a mason jar or pallet. I’m just not the arts and crafty type. But for the last couple years at Thanksgiving I have gotten out the box of art supplies, pulled out some yarn, construction paper, and a sharpie and then sent my kids out to gather sticks from the yard. While this may seem like the makings of a craft project, in my mind it’s something different. It’s an Ebenezer.
1 Samuel 7:11-13
The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
When we think of the word Ebenezer the picture it most likely brings to mind is of a grumpy, greedy old man who can’t grasp the true meaning of Christmas. You can thank Charles Dickens for that mental image, but before Ebenezer was associated with Scrooge, it had a different connotation. Samuel created a visual reminder of what God had done for his people. Whenever they saw that stone called “Ebenezer”, they would remember how God had helped them conquer their enemies.
The Israelites needed this reminder. The Bible shows us over and over that they were a people prone to forgetting. But I’m prone to forgetting, too. We don’t live in a culture that puts a high priority on setting stones in your yard to remember major life events, but sometimes I wish we did. I need a physical, tangible reminder of what God has done in my life so I continue to trust him with my future.
It’s easy to get discouraged when you focus on your daily struggles and don’t see the big picture of how God is moving both in your own life, and in the history of the generations who came before you. I imagine that stone was probably big enough and important enough that it stuck around for awhile. People could take their grandkids to it and talk about God’s faithfulness. I need those kind of reminders, too. God’s care and concern for humanity didn’t just start with me. He has been on a path of redemption for those in my own genealogy and I trust he will continue to move on behalf of my kids and grandkids. So I want to make a habit of remembering all we have to be thankful for, and what better time to do that than Thanksgiving?
. . . To finish reading this post and get instructions on making a Thanksgiving Tree, click over to Her View From Home. . .