It is a great new fridge – beautiful and shiny – but it is the functionality that we like the most – and then after that we like that it is the exact same model as our 22yr old fridge and hopefully as reliable – at least for a few years – hopefully another 20!

I had to clean out the old fridge too many times when it would falter – the dressings and cheeses and long term storage things – got expensive tossing – it was unreliable and getting water leaks all down the floor cracking the wood… It was “sort of” working and in the band-aid approach to life, but after a while I opted for replacement – so that the next 2 to 20 years will be OK… I hope…

It was easy cleaning OUT the fridge – but the pause came when I knew I had to clean OFF the fridge door and sides – oh…  that was emotional and strange and real…

But I knew there would be new – new fridge, new life, new hope, new salads and milk and cheeses inside, and new adventurous things to post outside… 

But for this moment, I knew there was more than a fridge full of magnets and memories – posted things like student of the month and awards, art work, photos from weddings, magnets from trips, and a funny combined double manufacturing error of collection we had – like 2 forks in one bag and 2 covid masks sewn together in manufacturing error – for some reason the “kids” of 5 years ago were amused – and these got posted on the fridge next to the calendar and memories. Oh there was the side of the fridge, with comics and with a photo of “Granny Jane” our then neighbor at 90 to 100 years – she was wearing a fun hat in our photo – my kids and I met her and loved her – everyone loved her. And then there were important lock combinations and a few memos. More memories in the vacation bible school art crafted photos. OH – the values we hold of love and family and friends clung to that fridge as we clung and cling to them…  Cleaning OFF the memories was bittersweet…

but I saved all those memories just as I saved all the stuff…  

and now – I will recreate that – it might take me a while to get back to it – but I plan to recreate the same items in the same places… I took off it in a pattern and have the photos to recreate it – wouldn’t it be funny to simply print a photo of the old magnets and stick that up there…

Why? – because I can – why? – because I care of my own memories – why? – because I never lost the love of most of those moments – and just a few things will be discarded as not needed – most will stay. why? because I love what I love. We love what we love, and save trinkets to save space – and try to give them all space.

Isn’t that life with our Lord – we are cleaned out and rejuvenated on the inside – we have a new self – we have a new step – a new “chill” mentality like a cooling fridge – a new preservation mode of temporary treasures and yet the willingness to shed it all and start fresh…  And isn’t that our Lord’s Life with us – a new shiny exterior that is the cloak of forgiveness and grace that cleans up the view. Paul would write: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2nd Cor 5:17 – and that is inside first and outside next..

And isn’t that the new life we step into everyday – old treasures – and new treasures to experience and only take snippets – fridge magnet sized memories of adventure and loved ones – but don’t try to overload it – but we do… and that is our next step – to make new memories and save a NEW spot on the fridge for those…  take off the old magnets of irrelevance and put on new history.

All in all – be thankful that we are replaced with a new model in Heaven – let life continue in a better style with no energy drain or cost.

And as for legacy? that would be of our values – and when I had the fridge cleaned and my daughter came home, she had that gasp of an empty fridge – not inside because we have been dealing with that for a month of not-cooling – but her gasp was of the memories stripped from the fridge – I quickly told her that I saved them all… Legacy is that we show others and they also learn that we DO care about our past and our loved ones – and that we are willing to make the sacrifices to go forward… out and off with the old – and on with the new – that is what will step us forward…

Remember life, like the items in the fridge are perishable – and the treasures of earth like those ON the fridge will weather and fade – but the LORD lives forever and so will we in Him… 

Amen

Peter (1Peter 1:15-25 NKJV) would write: “…as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. … Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Amen

Paul would write: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2nd Cor 5:17 NKJV

Jesus would teach: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV