We\u2019ve had a lot of firsts lately\u2014the kind of firsts that aren\u2019t milestones, but to my nostalgic inclinations are magic. First road trips of the summer. First strawberries from the farmer\u2019s market. First maneuverings in a power wheelchair. First skinned knees because shorts are out in full force. First time (of many) that my girl will grow out her bangs. First ice cream where they could pick allllll the toppings. First time a little body felt just a little too big in my lap.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

None of this is earth-shattering. None of it you could cue up a soundtrack to and get weepy over unless you were part of the making of the film. It\u2019s the kind of stuff I notice because I\u2019m in it. Really in it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I catch myself wondering which of these moments, if any, make it into my kids\u2019 stockpile of memories. I know I will hoard them up, Scrooge McDuck-style, but I do wonder which ones, for them, will stick.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All this got me thinking about the stories of the men and women in the Bible. If they made a \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d version of the Old Testament, what would David say in the outtakes of the Psalms? Actually, David pretty much just laid it all out there. But I\u2019d like to ask Bathsheba a few questions. And Noah\u2019s wife too\u2014I\u2019d like to see how she handled life on the boat. I\u2019d also ask Rachel, \u201cSo really, how did it feel to watch your sister get pregnant over and over again with your husband\u2019s babies?\u201d And I\u2019d skip ahead to the Gospels and ask Paul what the thorn in his side really was and if he ever missed (just a little) the power and notoriety that came with being a Pharisee. Oh! And boy would I have a few questions for John about all of Revelation. I mean, for heaven\u2019s sake (literally) how did he ever sleep after that?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My point?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much more going on in a person\u2019s life that we really can\u2019t take in from just one or a lifetime of encounters. One snarky comment in the grocery store aisle or one great Instagram pic just doesn\u2019t show the full spectrum of a human soul. Even our own memories are not as trustworthy as we’d like. We also can\u2019t assume we know all the hidden mysteries of the Bible either, which is what makes heaven such an amazing prospect\u2014it will be the Google-cam 360 view of everything we\u2019ve always wanted to see and know.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I think I spend too much time trying to \u201cpin down\u201d people and situations and give them a label, but honestly, that\u2019s not what I\u2019m called to do. I\u2019m called to take in as much as I can and let God absorb the rest. There\u2019s always more to the story. If I can remember that, perhaps I\u2019ll get a few more \u201cfirsts\u201d of my own\u2014new realizations, new friends, new quirks to my own personality as I get older and more complex like a nice bottle of wine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sunday Thoughts Link Up<\/strong><\/h1>\n

It’s time for another Sunday Thoughts Link-Up! I know there are many out there with wisdom that could encourage all of us. As long as it’s faith-based, I’d love for you to join up and then read and comment on what others have shared. Please also leave a comment here. Think of this as a Sunday morning community group that comes to you. And grab the button if you like…<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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First road trips of the summer. First strawberries from the farmer\u2019s market. First maneuverings in a power wheelchair. First skinned knees because shorts are out in full force. First time (of many) that my girl will grow out her bangs. First ice cream where they could pick allllll the toppings. First time a little body<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/2018\/06\/16\/the-rest-of-the-story\/\"> …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[21,22],"tags":[214,28,97,27,46,48,209,115,55,63,54,17,100,24,15,59],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mom-gene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_7395-e1528984147893.jpg?fit=3022%2C1465&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8ca5p-1ob","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5343"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5353,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions\/5353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}