IT IS SWEET TO BE REMEMBERED.
1. In the Home Circle.—By how many, many wanderers in the great, wide world has the thought of the old song been recalled. “Do they miss me at home? do they miss me?” with the emphasis upon the “me.” He has thus soliloquized: “Of course, they remember Mary, and Helen, and John, and Henry, but O, how much would I give, if I only knew they cared for me, and remembered me, the wanderer. I may not be worth remembering; but it would be so sweet to know that I was remembered at the fireside, at the table. Do they say, ‘I wish he were here. How he would enjoy this!’ I wish I knew. It seems that the loneliness in life would be relieved if I only knew this.” Thus many have pondered. But the question went unsolved, and the soul drifted on and on, out into the great sea of death and forgetfulness, perhaps. 2. Birthdays.—It is sweet to be remembered on one’s birthday. On the days of great family gatherings, New-year or Christmas or Thanksgiving, it is different. There are at such times general greetings of all sorts to everybody, through habit or custom, generally kindly, but often thoughtlessly. They mean little, after all. But on birthdays it comes home to the heart so much stronger, as the thoughtful person passes one of these mile-stones of life, albeit every day is a new beginning, to receive kindly word of greeting, some little gift or token of remembrance from special friends. But nearly always these occasions pass by with little thought, and many are indeed forgotten, and the mile-stone is noted in sadness, and increasing age seems more of a burden. It will not come amiss, it will prove a good investment, for each to remember all the members of his family, to remember those near by ties of nature. This does not mean that any one should demand remembrance. The blessing comes in remembering others. 3. In Trial.—It is good to be remembered in trial. Who has not relatives, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, sick, poor, bereaved, in need of comfort. It is sweet to be remembered by a kind word, a helpful deed, a sympathetic letter, a little flower, a message of cheer. How these things oftentimes break the seemingly impenetrable cloud overhead, and let the sunlight of God through! Would you be remembered in any of these circumstances, or similar ones?—Then “remember those who are in bonds as bound with them.” 4. At the Family Altar.—It is good to be remembered there in sweet, earnest petition before the Lord. Many a wayward child has been brought back from the paths of sin by remembering the hallowed hour of prayer in the family circle, where the father, the priest of the family, presented, in the name of Jesus, his loved ones before the Father, mentioning the names and perhaps the special needs of each. But the “prayer” must not be a tale of censure before God. Let all that is necessary in that line be with the child. Let the talk with God, on the part of father or mother, be sweet and sympathetic thanks and pleadings, in behalf of each child and each member. And, irreligious tho the boy or girl may be, they will feel that it is sweet to be remembered; and when away from home, as the hour of prayer draws near or rest is sought, it will be doubly sweet to remember that father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, one or more, prayed for me; and the heart is drawn by the blessed thought to the Father above. At all times it is good to be remembered; but it is beyond the power of the human to remember all friends or all needy ones always. Therefore we suggest these special times. But at these times our friends forget. We look and hope, not for emolument or reward or gift, but only kindly remembrance, and we look and hope in vain. 5. One Never Forgets.—But God suffers all these disappointments for a purpose, and that purpose our best and highest good. It is a poor, unfeeling heart that has not been broken with pain or grief, which is not moved by trial and disappointment. God can better use the heart which feels. It is more susceptible to truth, more capable of growth. He wishes by these disappointments in which we have felt “I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind,” to wean us away from the human to the Divine, from those who can scarcely help to Him who can save to the uttermost, from the forgetters to Him who never forgets. How good to know God never forgets! He says to His people: “Thou art My servant; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” Isa. 44:21. And it is not to one or two or a select class that God gives this word. He remembers the lowest. He continues: “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins; return unto Me: for I have redeemed thee.” Surely, God will not forget that which He has redeemed, that which cost the life of the Son of God. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me.” Even man could not well forget what was written on his palms; it would be continually before him. Under great stress a mother might forget her sucking child; but God can not forget His children. Morning and evening, day and night, in season and out of season, in cloud and sunshine, in trial and prosperity, God never forgets, tho He seems to at times. He knows all about the trial-burdened brother. He knows the lack of true friends, lonely heart. He knows the roughness of the way, striving soul. Leave the human; trust to the Divine; and “at all times” He will be with thee. “He will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”