While it’s been an age since working as a pastor or identifying as a Christian, my love for story sometimes reminds me of metaphors I still find useful —even powerful. One is the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan. When the waters stop, a member of each tribe is instructed to grab a stone from the riverbed, and later use it to build an altar, so that in the future, they and their progeny could be reminded of the powerful way in which they entered a new land.

The circumstances of the last week have reminded me of the beauty of memorializing powerful and transformative moments in one’s life. Much like Israel’s wandering in the desert for 40 years, life can feel like a deluging slog…then the waters stop.

And then? A new land.

We build memorials not because we worship the past, but because the future version of ourselves will inevitably forget what the present version knows.