{"id":5358,"date":"2020-06-21T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2020-06-21T14:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5358"},"modified":"2020-04-19T15:45:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T20:45:42","slug":"if-only-i-could-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5358","title":{"rendered":"If Only I Could Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026<\/em>..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My\nlife is an endless cycle of walking into rooms and forgetting what I went in\nthere to get \u2013 until I go back to where I started. Then I remember it, only to\nforget it when I get back to where I went in the first place. It\u2019s getting to\nwhere I have to write myself a post-it note just to remember what I want to get\nin the next room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nmemory thing can be problematic. There is the problem of two people looking at\nthe same thing, but seeing something different. My husband and I do this all\nthe time. The technical name for it is marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nwe moved to Tacoma, Washington over thirty years ago, we were in a rush to get\nto our first church service there. We hurriedly scooted our three young\nchildren into the car and flew down the highway. My husband glanced out the\nrearview mirror and noticed a flurry of papers flying around behind us. Then he\nremembered leaving his briefcase on the top of the car. Could this paper storm\nbe everything from his briefcase, including all our important documents we\ndidn\u2019t want lost in our move? Yes, indeed it was!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frantically\nwe pulled to the side of the highway and he started picking up some still intact\nfiles, his Bible, and what random documents he could find. Miraculously, he\nwasn\u2019t killed by the oncoming traffic. We were surprised when a\nleather-jacketed, Good Samaritan on a motorcycle stopped to help. Believe it or\nnot, most of the important stuff was recovered. The Good Samaritan waved\nfarewell, and we have recounted the incident many times. However, each of our\nversions seems to be slightly different. He remembers the Good Samaritan taking\noff his helmet and revealing long, shoulder length, tousled hair. I remember\nhis head as totally shaven. To this day each of us knows he\/she is right and\nthe other one is wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police\nofficers experience this all the time. When eyewitnesses are questioned about\nwhom they saw do the robbery, the descriptions indicate the crime was committed\nby a short, tall, black, white person with short, long, brown, blonde hair\nwearing blue sweatpants or a brown suit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\nmemories can be flawed and unduly influenced by time, bias, and suggestions. Some\nof us even tend to shade the truth a bit\u2014not intentionally, but if we tell an\nembellished story long enough, we actually think it is true. If we are having\ndifficulty with a person, our minds magnify their imperfections. We even\nbelieve our fantasized ideas about how much better things were in years gone\nby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such\nwas the case when the Israelites came out of Egypt. For years they groaned for\ndeliverance because of their unbearable hardships (Exodus 1:8-22; 2:23; 5:7). However,\nwhen God delivered them, they grumbled about how much better off they had been\nin Egypt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nthey didn\u2019t like how God provided for them they\u2019d recall their distorted view\nof the good old days. \u201cRemember the fish we ate in Egypt\u2026\u201d (Deuteronomy 11:5)\nor \u201cIt would have been better if the Lord had just killed us in the land of\nEgypt! At least there we had plenty to eat\u201d (Exodus 16:3 ERV). Yes, they may\nhave had fish, but they also had oppressive slavery under cruel task masters,\nto the point that even their baby boys were killed at birth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later,\nGod would tell them to remember when they were slaves in Egypt. Remember that\nGod delivered them to freedom (Deuteronomy 5:15). Remember what God did to\nPharaoh and to Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:18). Remember how God led them through the\nwilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nwas more than exhorting them just to remember these things; it was telling them\nto remember accurately. \u201cBe careful never to forget what you yourself have\nseen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live\u201d\n(Deuteronomy 4:9 NLT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human\nmemory is flawed. Life, even the Christian life, is not easy so when times get\nrough we might imagine it was better before God revealed Himself to us. Not\ntrue! We forget how lonely, depressed, angry, hopeless, or void of purpose we\nfelt without God. We forget all God has done for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nGod reminds me of something He did for me that I have forgotten, it fills my\nheart with joy. It has to be a God thing because I can\u2019t even remember what I\ncame into this room to get. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O God, help me remember Your love, mercy,\nkindness, and faithfulness to me and my loved ones. Bring to memory all those\nlittle prayers You answered immediately and the ones where You wisely didn\u2019t\ngive me what I wanted because You know what\u2019s best. Gently and lovingly remind\nme of all You have done for me, lest I forget. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026.. My life is an endless cycle of walking into rooms and forgetting what I went in there to get \u2013 until I go back to where I started. Then I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}