The Daily Memo

Beauty is transcendent. It is our most immediate experience of the eternal. Think of what it's like to behold a gorgeous sunset or the ocean at dawn. Remember the ending of a great story. We yearn to linger, to experience it all our days. Sometimes the beauty is so deep it pierces us with longing. For what? For life as it was meant to be. Beauty reminds us of an Eden we have never known, but somehow know our hearts were created for. Beauty speaks of heaven to come,…

Did you know God “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4)? He wants each of us to live in such a way that we influence others for their spiritual good. Jesus used two words—salt and light—to illustrate our mission. Salt, which flavors and preserves, permeates the food on which it is sprinkled, causing a significant difference in flavor. Christians are to function the same way, by spreading the appeal of…

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" "You will not surely die," the…

Harriet Tubman couldn’t read or write. As an adolescent, she suffered a head injury at the hands of a cruel slave master. That injury caused her to have seizures and lapses of consciousness for the rest of her life. But once she escaped slavery, God used her to rescue as many as three hundred others. Nicknamed “Moses” by those she freed, Harriet bravely made nineteen trips back to the pre-Civil War South to rescue others. She continued even when there was…

“ESCAPE.” The billboard shouts the benefits of having a hot tub installed. It gets my attention—and gets me thinking. My wife and I have talked about getting a hot tub . . . someday. It’d be like a vacation in our backyard! Except for the cleaning. And the electric bill. And . . . suddenly, the hoped-for escape starts to sound like something I might need escape from. Still, that word entices so effectively because it promises something we want:.…

Two octogenarians, one from Germany and the other from Denmark, were an unlikely couple. They had each enjoyed sixty years of marriage before being widowed. Though living only fifteen minutes apart, their homes were in separate countries. Still, they fell in love, regularly cooking meals and spending time together. Sadly, in 2020, due to the coronavirus, the Danish government closed the border crossing. Undeterred, every day at 3:00 p.m., the two met at the border on a…

Many people simply can’t believe that the Lord loves them. Others think He does, but only when they perform to some imaginary standard of excellence. Why is it so hard for some of us to accept His unconditional love? One reason is that we have a hard time loving other people without restrictions. The way we show care and acceptance can be shaded by self-interest. Or it might ebb and flow, depending upon the other person’s behavior. The fact that human love can…

Have you ever chosen a certain path, only to find yourself regretting that decision later? Facing crossroads can at times seem overwhelming, but we have an all-knowing God to guide us. Therefore, we should wisely prepare beforehand for decisions we may have to make quickly. Scripture is our primary source for direction and wisdom. If we study, memorize, and meditate on God’s Word, He’ll bring truth to our mind at the appropriate time. What’s more, we have…

Lord Radstock was staying in a hotel in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century. He heard a little child playing the piano downstairs in the hallway. She was making a terrible noise: ‘Plink... plonk... plink...’. It was driving him mad! A man came and sat beside her and began playing alongside her, filling in the gaps. The result was the most beautiful music. He later discovered that the man playing alongside was the girl’s father, Alexander Borodin, composer…