I remember thousands of twinkling Christmas lights setting fire to the room with its ambient glows of reds, greens, and oranges. For every Christmas light, tinsel was draped precariously in every nook and cranny in the small room. Where ever the tinsel fell is where light spill out in all directions as the semi metallic coating reflected Christmas in every corner and in every crack in the wall as well.

This is my first real, tangible memory of Christmas. It was on the Island of St. Helena, I know there was Christmas’ before this one, but at four years old who can remember the years leading up to my first memory? Father Christmas had not arrived yet on that volcanic rock of an Island. The weather was most definitely not frightful outside either; I guess living near the equator does have its drawbacks if one is expecting a white Christmas. I don’t remember whose house I was in, or why I was there, but the gaudy tinsel and the Christmas lights are forever etched in my mind, like a chiseled marble statue of a Greek god in Greece, this memory is the quintessential celebration of the Christ-mas on the island of St. Helena for me. To this day there is that warm feeling I get when I draw back the now older and dusty curtains of my mind and think of that time long ago…in a faraway place. It is this fond thought there in my childhood, that I, with child-like eyes, drew joy, love and peace in but a moment in time. That memory is still something that I cling to even now as an adult when other memories are not as resplendent or warm and fuzzy.

Isn’t it funny how specific moments in time are captured so vividly in the recesses of our mind, and if we think on them from time to time it is like watching a re-run of your favorite movie. I would never want to trade such memories for anything in the world! These memories are unique to me, to who I am as a person and who I was then as a child. No one else shares these specific memories with me; and my perspective as a four year old in a big world would also make each captured still frame in my mind one of a kind in this world.

Isn’t it interesting to think that each of us carries these types of memories that are one of a kind, and are specifically unique to our brain’s hard drive? For example, no one else in this world shares your memories and perspectives of the first time you actually rode a bike. Perhaps you had a parent there keeping you balanced, but even their memory of that occasion varies from your account. Perhaps it wouldn’t vary all that much, but your parent wasn’t seated on the bicycle they were next to you as you pushed and pumped those foot pedals in order to obtain one of your first moments of childhood liberation. Our memories, our recollections make each and every one of us unique and different from the next. Just as our fingerprints are never duplicated; so too our memories are our own to keep and to treasure.

The same can be said for our conversion experiences as well. All of our salvation stories are unique and one of a kind. God speaks to each of us in our own unique and special ways. No two conversion stories will ever be the same, because God has crafted us from different canvases. We all share His image in some way shape or form because we have been made in His image. Let’s take that thought a step further however, if we are all made in the image of God and each of us are cut from different canvases then we can begin to grasp just a fragment of the scope and scale in which this creator God has created us and the world around us, but also bits and pieces of His character as well. Because if we are created in His image, and no two people in this world are alike (minus identical twins) then we are to understand our Creator is unique, vast in identity and mighty in His creations. My memories are mine, shared only in snap shots that I can describe and with my God who sees all and lives these experiences with me. Sometimes we feel alone, sometimes we wonder if anyone will ever understand what we’ve been through or who we truly are…God knows you, and God understands you!

You are unique and special to Him! You are one of a kind in this universe; it is by design that you are created so. You also look like the Creator, perhaps sin has marred that image, but you are His! Take a moment today and consider this thought today! Accept it, embrace it, and then live it.