Memory Bridges

by Macy Johnson

“I will make every effort to see that after my departure 

you will always be able to remember these things.”

(2 Peter 1:15 NIV)

I love the sound of a fishing boat speeding across the lake past our dock, or a cruising pontoon filled with laughter enjoying the summer sunset. It reminds me of when I visited my Nanny and Granddaddy as a little girl at their home in Gulf Breeze, Florida.

Going “across the bay” was a special treat, a step back in time. My grandparents bought their bay house from a salty old fisherman around 1930, when a ferry transported visitors from Pensacola to Gulf Breeze. Nanny and Granddaddy kept the rustic flavor of the house through the years, adding only a single, window air-conditioning unit to the master bedroom.

Family and friends relished the opportunity to sit on the weathered dock or in the screened porch and listen to the sounds of boats skimming across the water. At night every light on the Bay Bridge would sparkle, like a giant diamond necklace strung three miles across Pensacola Bay. With open windows in the front bedroom, the lapping of waves on the sandy shore lulled me and my cousins to sleep. Even now I can close my eyes, smile, and remember the sounds, sights, tastes and salt-water smells of my childhood there.

What amazing gifts memories are – bridges transporting our past into our present. God tells us in His Word to remember, to set up altars in our minds to remind us of His goodness. Some days my mind can taste my mother’s famous strawberry cake or curried shrimp. Nanny’s delicious “Gaspachee”, a traditional Pensacola salad, was a requested favorite at the annual Fish-Fry across the bay. Life is a wonderful collection of memories, strung together, continually creating more.

I thank my Heavenly Father for giving me all the memories that bridge my earthly past to my eternal future. I hope you will, too!