In one edition of an old Wizard of Id cartoon a man walked into the pharmacy saying he wanted to pick up his memory pills. The pharmacist answered, “I gave those to you yesterday.” To which the man replied, “I want my money back!”:-)
Memory problems are often no laughing problem. They can present real dilemmas. When we lived in Australia, we met a real gentleman, who had spoken seven languages fluently before a stroke took that away one day, leaving him with only rudimentary communication abilities in his primary language. Recently in the news, a man who spoke English all his life, woke up one day speaking only Swedish; doctors couldn’t figure out a cause and he subsequently immigrated to Sweden to start a new life, unaware of any family he might have elsewhere. Another man, after surgery, couldn’t remember being married to the beautiful woman standing by his hospital bed. When Marcia’s dad was alive she would have to remind him who she was. It would come back to him in a few minutes…until the next visit when she would lovingly help him remember again.
Have you ever contemplated what it would be like to experience such a scenario where you couldn’t remember the most important things in life? If you had a choice of being able to remember one or two things what would you ask God to always retain in your memory? I know what mine are. Today is a good day to commit to a lifetime of important memories!
Years ago Dr. James Dobson commented that God designed our brains to never forget. That even in devastating situations like Alzheimer’s, the brain remembers, especially the most important things, but a problem is caused that inhibits accessing the information. Disease, stress, and being preoccupied with too many things may contribute to “memory loss.” But what causes us to “forget” our path in life and our true loves? How is it we are able to “walk away” only to later need a long and difficult journey back to the point we rediscover our heart’s desire?
God prompts us all throughout His Word, “REMEMBER. I AM the Lord Your God.” It seems we have a penchant for going our own way throughout the day, and sometimes throughout periods of our life. We forget to go to Him first with problems. We forget that His purpose for us to draw close to Him, not just to get through difficult times. There have been times I have forgotten that I am really a strong and eternal spiritual being with a very fragile and temporary physical body, not the other way around.
Why does a daily habit and lifetime pursuit of ‘remembering’ God make a difference? Isn’t this the key to remembering everything else that is important to our life pursuit? To truly love my spouse, my children, *and* those around me?
Let’s commit to remembering God throughout the day so He can shine His light on the other important aspects of our life!