Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits, Psalm 103:2 MEV
In 6th grade I was chosen to be the Outstanding student of the month. One of the privileges for this honor was the opportunity to eat with the faculty at their tables on the stage in the lunchroom for one meal in which we could invite an outside guest, in which I invited my Mom.
During the meal, I was supposed to introduce my mom to some of the teachers that I knew. At this point, I became really anxious. I wanted to do it perfect. I got it half right, but I froze and forgot my Mom’s name…for what seemed like a short eternity.
Why do we forget?
According to Robert N. Kraft, Ph.D., in Psychology Today, June 23, 2017, the broadest reason we forget is that in our everyday lives, we focus on understanding the world, not remembering it.
Memory is profoundly important in retrospectively defining ourselves, but we don’t approach new events in the world with the primary goal of remembering them. We appreciate, manage, enjoy, negotiate, confront, praise, love, argue, get through — all ways of understanding.
We attend to the present, and therefore we forget. We live our lives moving forward — comprehending, acting, and reacting. It should not be surprising, then, that we occasionally walk into a room and forget the reason we came in. When we decided to go into the room, we had a specific action in mind, something to accomplish. But we were focused on carrying out that action, not on remembering it.
King David, who penned this Psalm, understood that some events are more important to remember than others, so he starts to recount the many benefits we receive from God. In what ways do you remember His benefits?
- Rehearse them over and over like memorizing a verse
- Sing about the attributes of His goodness
- Retell the story to others, your testimony is a powerful way to remember God’s goodness
- Make some tokens to remember the event, God told the Israelite’s to erect a monument of rocks from the Jordan river as a trigger conversation for children later to be born to learn about the miracle of crossing the river.
- Engage in the association of good memories. We love to tell others how an event changed our mood or helped get us out of a bad situation.
The most important element to remember is that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. It will never be forgotten or erased.
Blessings Love y’all