FreerangeFriday: Lord Remind Me

By Lilly Lewin

I have talked to several people recently who aren’t really ready for Thanksgiving this year. It feels hard to get excited about celebrating when things feel so heavy and people are suffering. It’s not that we aren’t grateful, it’s the reality of all the grief.

The news in our world is so dark and the conflicts are so violent and controversial. My heart breaks and I pray for peace. I pray for a ceasefire and an end to war in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. I pray for our congress who cannot figure out compassion and condemn people for speaking their truth. I pray for the people who are adding to their stock portfolios because weapons of war make tons of money. I feel that war is always about money and power, not about what they say. And killing people breeds more violence and incites more revenge, not less. Not too mention the looming election and the campaign for president next year. I am honestly pre-dreading it all.

I need Jesus to remind me of his love.

We had another senseless killing in Nashville this week due to gun violence. A person shooting randomly at a car critically wounded a college freshman out taking a walk in a park near her campus. It’s easier for someone to get a gun than to get a passport in this state. It’s easier to get a gun than to get a drivers license. And the shooter was incompetent to stand trial for another gun violence incident but could still be out on the street and have access to guns LEGALLY! My friend author Bonnie Smith Whitehouse said yesterday on her instagram that she hadn’t worn mascara since March 27, 2023 because she never knows when she might start weeping. March 27th is when the Covenant School Shooting happened here in Nashville. Bonnie is a professor at Belmont where the college freshman who died was a student. These two places are with in 3-5 miles of my house. I drive by these places every week.

I need Jesus to remind me of your love.

Maybe you do too.

Yesterday when I was walking Jake, I found a random rose bush still in full bloom, filled with PINK ROSES. Pink Flowers are gifts from Jesus, reminders to me that God loves me AND is still in control! I sure needed this reminder!

Do you have a symbol or a thing that Jesus uses to remind you of his love for you? In Bonnie’s book Seasons of Wonder, she talks about Rainbows being her sign. She has friends who will call and text her when they see a rainbow and she will run outside to see it too! In Seasons of Wonder , Bonnie invites us to let the month of November POINT us to LOVE!

Seasons of Wonder

What are things that can remind you of the LOVE OF JESUS this month?

Who are the people who remind you of God’s great love for you?

Maybe make that phone call or go have lunch with that person this month and reconnect.

Maybe host Thanksgiving anyway and invite some extra friends.

There is a great song, it’s a Christmas song, but I ‘m listening to it ahead of time called “Lord Remind Me! ” It’s helping a lot. Here are the words and here are two versions of it to listen to.

I pray that you will find LOVE this November in the midst of everything.

Bonnie starts her November chapter with this quote from Wendell Berry

“Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery.”

LORD REMIND ME

When children play on Christmas day and snow is flungWhen I feel I haven’t had a friend since I was youngAnd I’m feeling tired of myself and everyone

Lord remind meLord remind meThat the shepherds heard the angels breakHe silence in the fieldThat the wisemen found a baby andThey could not help but kneelThat the one who heard our weepingBecame a child in manger sleepingLord remind meCause it’s Christmas and I want to remember

When I hear the news and hear another war has begunAnd I wonder if god’s on the side of either oneI hear bullet nail or handcuff he bore all of themAnd in the light my heart’s as dark as anyone’s

Lord remind meLord remind meThat the shepherds heard the angels breakThe silence in the fieldThat the wisemen found a baby andThey could not help but kneelThat the one who heard our weepingBecame a child in manger sleepingLord remind meCause it’s Christmas and I want to remember

Tell me how he lovesTell me how he wants meTell me the story like I’ve never heard beforeAnd I’ll sing like the angelsSing with my whole heartSing to him who’s worth a thousand suns and more

Glory in the highestGlory in the lowestGlory that shines when nothing seems to shine at all

Glory in the highestGlory in the lowestEmmanuel

Glory in the highestGlory in the lowestEmmanuelEmmanuel

Lord remind meLord remind meThat the paralytic rose and stood upProud on his own feetThat the thief who hung beside you is with you nowAnd waits for meThat the cry of faith so simpleIs the greatest song in heaven’s hymnalLord remind meCause it’s Christmas and I want to remember

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jon Guerra