You Were Always on My Mind

 Sadly, music has not played a huge role in my life --- I was always more oriented to books --- but the first time I heard Willie Nelson sing "You Were Always on My Mind," I knew this was a song I would not soon forget.  And now that my children are grown and moved away, now that I have lost very close friends to death, now that I have found new friends and have become part of their lives, Willie Nelson seems to be singing just to me.

The story of each life is marvelous and precious; each person deserves to have at least one other person who knows and keeps the story of one's life.  To "know" another person means to understand their story -- where they are coming from, what they value, what they hope for.  Although I do not converse with my children on a daily, or even a weekly, basis, they are always on my mind.  I think about what they are going through, what they suffer, what they enjoy, what they are hoping for --- all the time.  They are never very far away from me; in a sense, they are in me and with me always.

My brothers and sisters also live within me.  I rejoice when I hear their news, what is happening in their lives, and I desire to be part of what they experience as much as possible.  I grieve when they are ill and smile when I hear their voices.  I want to know about their children and grandchildren -- all the stories that make up a family.

And my new friends, those whose stories I hear and keep up with, they are always on my mind, too.  I am concerned about their illnesses; I rejoice when they have good news; I pray for their concerns.  I wake up during the night thinking about them.

All of this is what it means to be "in Christ, and Christ in me."  In the discourse on the Vine and the branches (John 15), Jesus says, "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  If you were to Google "Christ in me," you'd find more than a dozen quotes about being "in Jesus."  Jesus spoke so often about himself being in the Father, and the Father in Him.  But at the last supper, He seemed anxious that the disciples and those coming after them would remain in both the Father and in Himself:  in that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you (John 14:19-20).

God himself knows our stories and keeps them; He himself dwells in our stories and does not forget them.  He enters into our stories and struggles; He takes up the causes of our lives, and struggles within us to make them fruitful for us:  

But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me."

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; you walls are ever before me (Is. 49).

If Willie Nelson kept the story of his love, despite human failing and neglect, how much more the One Who created us, Who loves us, Who has come after us.....how much more will we be "in" Him and He in us?