Scenes

“I see you in every scene. I bet you are thinking about me. I have such a short memory, so you’ll keep reminding me of you.”

–‘Scenes’ by Charlie Hall

I remember listening to this song during our first journey toward life in India more than five years ago, specifically during the short mission trip we took to Nepal in the first few weeks. It played into my headphones again this afternoon as I jogged the mountain road toward our little family house in Paros. Each line seemed to echo significant meaning in my life, as if in the past five years the Lord has whispered little truths and pieces of wisdom without me even realizing it.

Several times during this retreat to Greece, I have been reminded of my poor memory. Though we were here four years ago, each experience on this island is almost like a new one for me! I only remember shadows of things, but Grant can recall specific people and meals we had with them during our first visit. The same was true of my younger brother Michael and me. He and I spent a summer in Greece when we were 9 and 12, and for years he would remind me of the tiniest details of our time here—the lizards we caught, the funny song we wrote together about our grandfather’s rickety house in Athens (he even remembered all the words) . . . Of course I remember significant events and certainly people I love, but the small things are often lost to me. This line of the song struck my heart,

“I have such a short memory, so you’ll keep reminding me of you.”

He does, and in so many of the ways the song describes: “the fall of dew and sweet rain showers lift my mind to you . . .the sun, the wind, ocean waves and mountain streams lift my mind to you . . . as I walk on city streets, as I laugh with friends and feast . . .in the news with wars and guns, in the church where songs are sung . . . deep inside the beggars eyes . . .

. . . I see you in every scene . . .

The scenes of life have seemingly become richer as we have lived overseas. When before in my life had I looked into the eyes of a beggar? Even during this month away in Greece we are faced with pain and struggle. My uncle with his fixed income can hardly pay the new property taxes imposed on the country to fight their bankruptcy, and many are losing their family homes and land as they default on loans they took out when the country was flourishing. Greece as a whole is overrun with desperate immigrants from Albania, Bulgaria, Syria, and Egypt, and frightening hate groups are rising up against them among nationals who are fighting for ethnic solidarity. Most alarmingly, these armies of hate are basing their tirades on the writings of Hitler, whose regime tortured this country during World War II.

An abandoned house in Paros/WWII graves in Lefkes, Paros

I’ve learned that I am a lover. I love beauty and people and life. I tend to focus my energy on activities and images that reflect God’s love, and love in general. I have started painting pictures of scenery that I have had the opportunity to witness, and Grant knows I could sit with our guitar-playing kids and sing songs of worship for hours and days on end. But it is through both beauty and pain that God reveals Himself and draws us nearer to Him. Through hopelessness, joy, loss, hurt, and happiness He sparks in us a desire to love, to serve, and to show this world around us that He is.

Painting pictures of your love

You lift my mind up

Reminding me of you

My heart comes alive

Lord, please keep reminding me of you. I have such a short memory. May the images and events of this life you have given me continually draw me closer to You. May your will be done in me, in us.

Iconic painting on a mountain in Patmos/Monastery belltower/Sunset on the Aegean Sea