Unforgetting

by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea

Have I ever mentioned that I have a terrible memory? Maybe I did. Or maybe it slipped my mind. But hey, I remembered to buy all those vitamins that are supposed to help with memory. I’m pretty sure I’ve been forgetting to take them though. In the old days, people tied a string around a finger to help them remember. Guess I could try that.

I’ve always wished I had a photographic memory. Someone told me I actually do have one—it’s just not developed. That’s probably it. I always seem to be a few pics short of a full roll.

My brain is such an interesting piece of contradictory human-computer storage. It struggles to find the right name file for most faces, but it zips an immediate neural message for every lunch date. I’m talking, never forgetting a lunch. All synapses are firing when there’s food.

It’s funny that I don’t forget lunch. Or any meal at all, come to think of it. Sometimes I remember meals that aren’t even really supposed to be meals. But while I’ve faithfully made it to every meal this week, the last three days in a row I’ve gotten to the end of the day without remembering to exercise. Some call it selective memory. I have a feeling I’ll remember all too well next week when I’m trying to zip my jeans. Unless I select not to remember. Hello, elastic-waist pants.

I never want to be selective, however, about remembering the glorious things God has done. Take a look at Deuteronomy 4:9: “Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren,” (HCSB).  

These instructions from Moses to the people are instructions for us, too. Forgetting God was all too easy for them and, sadly, it’s easy for us still. We can get wrapped up in, and sidetracked by, all things earthly and temporary, and we can forget the heavenly and forever. The most important things can “slip from our hearts” when we’re not careful.

I think I’ll stop right now and praise the God of all power. He is the God from whom every blessing flows. He is the Creator of all. He is the provider of all good things and the great and loving God of my salvation.

We do well when we remember to give glory to the God of all glory. According to the verse in Deuteronomy, we need to be on guard and diligently watch ourselves so we don’t forget. Remembering has a purifying effect on our lives—even our children’s lives.

In that same chapter of Deuteronomy, we’re told to “Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God,” (verse 23, HCSB). I want to live “careful.” I think I can remember that. With or without the finger-string. And I think I’ll just decide to be okay with the fact that I’ll forget a few of the lesser things. Maybe I should remind everyone that my memory is not all that great. Also my memory is not all that great.

Hey, who put this string on my finger?

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Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist for lots of great magazines, including HomeLife, Leading Hearts, The Pathway and more. She is the author of 10 nonfiction books, including How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person? and coauthors fiction with her daughter, Kaley Faith Rhea. She and her daughters host the TV show, That’s My Mom, for Christian Television Network’s KNLJ. Rhonda enjoys traveling the country speaking at all kinds of conferences and events. She and her pastor/hubs have five grown children and live in the St. Louis area.