Devotions from Macrina Wiederkehr’s book, Gold in Your Memories

As we open the book of our lives we will discover layers and layers of stories, and we need to listen to them with a depth. Even the painful memories can become gold. Some pleasant memories may come to us as a surprise and bring us a unexpected source of renewal. We can think of our memories as a mosaic, as it is suggestive of a work of art. And every person’s’ life is a work of art.  As we learn to be present to our experiences, each piece of the life that is ours eventually finds a home in our hearts. Sometimes there are pieces we would rather leave out as they are dark and we think they will ruin our mosaic. But to deny any of those pieces is to deny who we are. As we replace denial with acceptance we will begin to see our whole life as a beautiful painting of many colors. In the end the shadow and dark places of our mosaic may add beauty to the work of art that we are becoming.

What has happened in our past is not unimportant but is worthy of space in our present life.