Lest We Forget

On the 3-hour bus ride to Manila from my hometown yesterday morning, I got to see the movie “Lucy” for the second time. It was about a woman who was able to use her brain’s full capacity because of a new-found drug that was placed inside her body in mega doses. One of the initial reactions to it was that she was able to remember everything, memories even from her infancy. In a particular scene where she was still overwhelmed by what she was experiencing, she called up her mom and began describing very detailed memories of her childhood. All this remembering led her to thank her mom and say “I love you” before hanging up.

I believe that scene to be very real. I think remembering does that.

For some years now, I have been keeping a journal. I haven’t been the most faithful in making sure I write on it regularly. There would be days, sometimes weeks, that I don’t write anything on it. But I make sure I have it near me all the time, just in case I need/want to write something. I write about the most random of things: from thoughts on some book I am reading, to things I need to pray for, to plain descriptions of how my surroundings look like from where I’m seated. It brings me joy revisiting these memories. Sometimes reading through my old journals transports me back to a place and time and even temperature that is all too familiar.

The word “male”, comes from the Hebrew word “Zakar” which means “the remembering one”. In the Old Testament, altars were built up to commemorate something important. In Exodus, God introduced himself to Moses as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” I believe He was trying to make Moses remember. Human beings can be very stubborn and forgetful, after all.

If people in the Bible needed reminding, how much more do we who live in this day and age? To most of us, we know very well how easy it is to get caught up with work and chores and the cares of everyday life. And it is just as easy to become worried and anxious about the things we need to do and the problems we face. We need to intentionally and purposefully pause, reflect, and look back every once in a while. It helps to ask ourselves: What have we learned? What mistakes have we committed? What has God taught us? What has God proven himself to be?
I believe it will do us good to look back from time to time. Looking back puts looking forward into perspective. And eventually it helps us to move also in that direction.

What do you need to be reminded of today?

Heb. 13:8

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”