The importance of remembering

By Jeff Becraft

I have two favorite golf gloves.

Now I don’t play golf very often. In fact, I’ve only played golf twice this year.

But one of those gloves came back in March of 2025. My Dad had passed away (which I have written about) and the day before his memorial service, me, our son, my brother and one of his sons, got together in honor of my Dad to play nine holes of golf where we used to play with him if we all came into town and were there at the same time.

Those times were some of the highlights of my entire life.

None of us were great golfers… but we certainly enjoyed our time out there and I am sure that the Audubon Society kept a close eye on us as a threat to the local wildlife, as you never knew where the ball was going off the tee. “Hey, that’s a great drive into the trees… you just took out that bird family of four on that one branch.”

As we got together that day, our son, Josiah, goes into the golf shop there while the rest of us are on the first tee getting ready to tee off. Here comes Josiah, and he has bought a golf glove for every person in honor of Grandad. For me, this is the most important golf glove I have ever had in my entire life.

There are two reasons why it is so important to me: one is because my son gave it to me, and two would be why he gave it to me and to the rest of us. It was in honor of my Dad. (Whenever we would go play, which wasn’t real often, Dad would buy a new sleeve of balls or something like that to give out to each of us before we teed off.) And so I think about that when I put that golf glove on. I remember.

The other golf glove was my Mom’s golf glove. Now my Mom did not play golf very often. It was one of those things that I think Dad wanted to have happen, and there were times they would play, and they would even sometimes go away and play with some other relatives. But it was not a regular thing for Mom and it was probably as much frustration for her as anything else. (Of course, golf has brought the best of people to their knees.)

As we were cleaning out everything from Mom and Dad’s house for the final time, I came across this golf glove in the drawer of a dresser… and I put it with my stuff that was going to go back with me to South Carolina. And interestingly enough, I don’t have very big hands and Mom’s glove actually fits my hand. So when the glove that Josiah gave me wears out, this will be my next go-to glove.

Remembering is a weapon.

It is a weapon against getting pulled aside where we lose sight of what is most important. It is a weapon against thinking that just everyday things in life are trivial. (As one of my mentors said, “even the ocean has a shore.”) Sometimes we just think that things in everyday life aren’t that big a deal. And through the pressure and hustle and bustle of just living in our society, something that might be really important slips through our fingers.

That is why it is so important to remember… to remember the privilege of life, to remember relationships we have had, to remember various experiences in life, and to remember people that have influenced our lives.

So when I put on that golf glove, that’s what I remember.

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope located in Columbia, South Carolina, where people find encouragement to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. Jeff has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. If you would like Jeff to speak to your group or event, you can connect with him at  [email protected].