Don’t forget to remember …

A struggle inherent in the human experience is forgetting and remembering.

We forget things we shouldn’t and struggle to remember things we should; and we fail to forget things we should and remember things we shouldn’t.

Dealing with all of that can be challenging, like the physician who said to his patient, “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times, I do not treat amnesia cases!”

Forgetting and remembering can be inconsequential, or it can happen at the most inopportune times. Comedian Victor Borge gave an example of this while commenting about how, in our forgetting and remembering, we can make primary things secondary, like the story about a couple going on vacation, standing in line waiting to check their bags at the airline counter.

The husband said to the wife, “I wish we had brought the piano.”
The wife said, “Why? We’ve got sixteen bags already!”
The husband said, “Yes, I know … but the tickets are on the piano!”

What can be troublesome in our forgetting and remembering is when we forget something that is important. Kind of like the story about a city dweller who was visiting relatives on a farm and the farmer gave a whistle and his dog herded the cattle into the corral, then latched the gate with her paw.

“Wow, that’s some dog! What’s her name?”

The forgetful farmer thought a minute, then asked, “What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?”

“A rose?”

“That’s it!” The farmer turned to his wife. “Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?”

Although it’s true we may wrestle with forgetting what we should or shouldn’t, and remembering what we should or shouldn’t, it’s also important to understand that we can use forgetting and remembering as skills by exercising our ability to purposely forget and remember. An example of that was thoughtfully penned by an unidentified writer as follows:

“Forget each kindness that you do as soon as you have done it. Forget the praise that falls to you the moment you have won it. Forget the slander that you hear before you can repeat it. Forget each slight, each spite, each sneer, whenever you may meet it. Remember every promise made and keep it to the letter. Remember those who lend you aid and be a grateful debtor. Remember all the happiness that comes your way in living. Forget each worry and distress; be hopeful and forgiving. Remember good, remember truth, remember heaven is above you. And you will find, through age and youth, that many will love you.”

It’s one thing to forget something, quite another to not even think about something.

There are a few things in life of such great value that we must strive to never forget them, so much so we make a practice of remembering and of purposely thinking of them, not just occasionally or even often, but perhaps even daily. For this category, Jesus has supplied us with something so important we must never forget; even more, we must make a practice of remembering:

“For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant between God and his people — an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.’ For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again,” 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

Nothing could be more important to not forget, and to remember every day, than the sacrifice Jesus made so that we could be reconciled to God.

Don’t forget to remember that.

Scotty