Memory Verse

“On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 63:6-7).

Dear Grandchildren,

I often marvel at the wonderful way that God created us, especially when I think of the human brain and how it stores many memories of childhood.

I did some things so long ago that it is difficult for me to remember them all, but sometimes a sound, or a touch, or maybe a taste triggers an old memory. Suddenly, I can hear the same familiar things out of the past and I become a little girl again.

Often I lie in bed trying to sleep, but sleep doesn’t come. Everyone else is asleep, and I wonder what it is that keeps me awake. Then I hear the barking of a dog in the distance. His bark sounds so far away, and it makes me feel very lonely. I try to think, why am I so lonely? And I remember.

I miss my father, and I miss my mother. The lonely feeling turns into a big hurt, because the people I miss so much are not with me anymore and never will be. I don’t think about them too much in the daytime, but oh, when the night comes, they become so real that I think they are right with me. Yet they are not there. I wish that the dog would stop barking in the distance and not bring back such vivid memories to me because they hurt…hurt…hurt….

And now, even when I am 60 years old and hear a dog barking in the distance, I remember the nights lying awake in the orphanage. It also takes me back to the time when I was at home with my mother and often listened to the sounds of dogs barking late at night. The lonely feeling will always come back to me with that particular sound. It is even lonelier during the winter months with much snow covering the ground, because that was when I especially felt like that.

Questions

1. To whom is the psalm writer speaking in the memory verse? Who do you talk to when you are sad?

2. What are some memories that you have? Are they good or bad? What do you think it means to “remember” God?

3. Did you ever wake up at night and feel afraid because everyone else was asleep? Were you really alone, or was God there with you?

4. The Bible says that God is our Father. That means He is there even when your parents are away. Can you think of ways God watches over you?