{"id":5470,"date":"2026-05-29T08:31:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5470"},"modified":"2026-05-29T08:31:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:31:30","slug":"anniversaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/anniversaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Anniversaries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>

Many people experience what can only be described as an annual appointment with pain.\u00a0\u00a0

Every year, when a certain day arrives, the memories associated with those 24 hours come flooding back.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0

It didn’t have to be this way.\u00a0

God could have planted us on a rock that hurtles through space around an object so distant that our lives would come and go before we ever returned to the same spot.

Instead, Earth loops around the sun once every 365 days or so.\u00a0That means that most of us will experience, over a lifetime, dozens of “reunions” with particular events.

Some of those reunions elicit joy.\u00a0

We love God’s gift of the seasons. This is a rather interesting year, since Memorial Day was just May 25 \u2013 the earliest that holiday can happen \u2013 and Labor Day will be September 7, which is the latest possible date for that special day. So 2026 is gifting us with the longest possible \u201csummer.\u201d\u00a0

We eagerly count the days to Thanksgiving and Christmas.\u00a0We welcome birthdays.\u00a0Every year we each have a chance to hear others tell us why it was a good thing that we came into the world.

But some anniversaries seem to pound on us like hammers, forcing us to relive past experiences of pain or loss.\u00a0

The day his heart stopped beating.<\/em>
The day she told you she no longer wanted to be with you.<\/em>
The day the military representative and chaplain rang your doorbell.<\/em>
The day your teenager packed up and moved out without even saying goodbye.<\/em>
The day the accident happened.<\/em>
The day you discovered those incriminating texts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
The day your boss said, “Clean out your desk and give me your key.”<\/em>
The day that should have been a birthday or a wedding or a graduation, but cancer or a drunk driver or an overdose or suicide or an insane act of anger stole your happiness forever.<\/em>

Or at least it seems to be forever.\u00a0\u00a0

Anniversaries return each year, right on schedule.

Counselors suggest that the first year is the hardest.\u00a0Holidays can be especially painful.

Friends can unintentionally make things worse.\u00a0They may imply that we ought to be “over this” by now.\u00a0It’s time to move on.\u00a0We need to think more positive and constructive thoughts.

Even worse, they may fear that bringing up the subject of a loss \u2013 especially the loss of an irreplaceable person \u2013 will plunge us into another round of sorrow.\u00a0In an effort to avoid discomfort, they choose the strategy of silence.\u00a0Forgetting.\u00a0Distancing.\u00a0

But that only multiplies the pain.\u00a0Remembering often becomes more important with time.\u00a0Please say his name out loud.\u00a0Please don’t forget how important she was to me.<\/em>

Most ancient people believed that time is circular.\u00a0The same events are endlessly repeated.\u00a0\u00a0

The Judeo-Christian tradition, however, introduced a new idea: progress.\u00a0Situations can actually change.\u00a0Tomorrow is not predestined to be a repeat of yesterday.\u00a0Next year can be altogether different.\u00a0\u00a0

According to the old saying, time heals all wounds.\u00a0Unfortunately, time can sometimes make things feel worse.\u00a0

But God<\/em> can heal all wounds, if we are willing to let him.

That means anniversaries can be transformed.\u00a0“Now we see but a poor reflection,” the apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 13:12, “but then face to face.”\u00a0He was speaking about the difference between our perceptions in this world and the next.

Sometimes our vision gets clearer even on this side of heaven.\u00a0We can become increasingly thankful as we see how God has used our pain to open our eyes, deepen our empathy, and soften our hearts.\u00a0

Is someone you know facing one of those tough anniversaries?

Reach out.\u00a0Give them a hug.\u00a0Don’t worry if words fail.\u00a0Remembering is what matters.

By God’s grace, instead of dreading annual appointments with heart-wrenching memories, we can even begin to welcome them as once-a-year opportunities to thank God for his healing touch.\u00a0\u00a0
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Many people experience what can only be described as an annual appointment with pain.\u00a0\u00a0 Every year, when a certain day arrives, the memories associated with those 24 hours come flooding back.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 It didn’t have to be this way.\u00a0 God could have planted us on a rock that hurtles through space… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[449,440,220],"class_list":["post-5470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-healing","tag-memories","tag-pain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5472,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5470\/revisions\/5472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}