Forgotten Milestones

Birthdays, graduations, weddings, and anniversaries are milestones that are commonly celebrated and remembered. Happy occasions and events that can be assigned a date are easy to commemorate. We can save gifts, rings, pictures, and cards to memorialize these experiences. But there are also significant milestones that quickly fade from our memories: recovery from an illness, answered prayer, a restored relationship, overcoming an obstacle, or resolution of a crisis.

Chapter 4 of the book of Joshua describes how the Israelites cross the Jordan River. As usual, my insights into these stories are mostly metaphorical. The Jordan represents a boundary between two phases of life. Crossing borders often involve dealing with barriers, walls, fences, rivers, or checkpoints. These transitional periods are marked with difficulties, pain, and stressful growth. Yet, we often put them behind us and move on quickly once we make it to the new phase. We overlook how God took care of us, how He got us through these obstacles.

Interestingly, God instructed the Israelites to memorialize the crossing over the Jordan. Just like He did with the Red Sea (the border between Egypt and the Sinai Desert,) God stopped the flow of the Jordan River so that the Israelites could cross safely. Then God instructed them to take twelve stones from the middle of the riverbed and build a memorial to remind future generations of His providence.

Think back on your life thus far. How many impassable, seemingly impossible situations have you gotten through by God’s grace? Do you remember these milestones? Maybe it would help to memorialize these border crossings.

I have some river rock in my flower beds. I took a permanent marker and wrote a word or phrase on these rocks to commemorate some of the difficult transitions that God has carried me through thus far. I put these rocks in a clear glass bowl to remind myself of God’s care.