Memorial Stones
By Carolyn Hulliberger
“In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’…These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Joshua 4:6-7
There’s a story in the book of Joshua that I have come to love. The scene is this: After wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, Moses has died and Joshua is the new leader of Israel, a nation of 600,000 fighting men, possibly over 2.5 million people total. God has promised the Israelites safe passage into the Promised Land, and the entire people of Israel have just crossed the Jordan River on foot…during its flood stage! If this were a movie, the soundtrack would crescendo, Joshua would rally the troops and then immediately begin conquering the nearest city for the fulfillment of God’s promise. By Carolyn Hulliberger
“In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’…These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Joshua 4:6-7
Instead, there is an intermission. God instructs Joshua to send 12 men to each select a stone from the middle of the Jordan River, bring them back, and set them on the ground where the people crossed the river. The stones were to serve as a memorial for future generations. Every time an Israelite passed that way, the stones would serve as a visual reminder of God’s faithfulness and Israel’s obedience on that momentous day.
We can have our own “memorial stones” today. A few years ago, I started a Thanksgiving tradition for our family. I have a journal with lined paper, and on Thanksgiving Day, each member of our immediate family, and whomever we are enjoying the holiday with, write about what we are thankful for. We love to go back and recall who we were with, and see notes of God’s faithfulness and lessons learned. Sometimes there is humor (my niece no longer is especially thankful for Dora the Explorer), sometimes loss over who is not there with us, but mostly these notes express moments in time where we pause, reflect, and remember on paper in a tangible way the faithfulness of God.
And we are thankful.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Create a Thanksgiving journal for yourself.
FURTHER READING:
Joshua 4:1-9; James 1:17; 1 Thess. 5:16-18
Along with caring for her husband, two children and the dog, Carolyn is an Office Representative for State Farm Insurance, serves in Student Ministries with seventh grade girls, and is the treasurer for Women’s Ministries.
