Making Memories

Funny the things you remember from times gone by. I don’t know why, I can see no real reason for it, but I can clearly remember the very first fish I caught over 60 years ago.  I can remember the very spot in the river where I fished that day. I can recall the river being in full flood. I can even remember the very bait I used, which was apparently the wrong kind. But still, in spite of fishing in a flood, and with the wrong bait, lo and behold, I caught my first fish.  I immediately ran back home to proudly show my family my catch.

Nowadays, when we take our children out for a road trip somewhere, we call it ‘making memories.’ Some will last a lifetime.  Memory is such a mysterious thing to possess. It can bring us such joy, but it can also bring us great sadness. Happy memories bring a smile to our face, sad memories make us frown. We can forget the things we should remember, and remember the things we should forget. 

Genesis 41:51 “Joseph called the name of his firstborn Manasseh, saying, God has made me to forget all my toil and all my father’s house.”   Manasseh in Hebrew means, ‘Causing me to forget’ Joseph had a lot of hardship in his life that he was happy to put behind him. 

Paul in Philippians 3:13 says, “…but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before…” There are just some things better left behind us in the past. Mistakes we made, sins we committed, wrong decisions that we cannot change. As the old saying goes, ‘You can’t unscramble eggs!’ 

However, there are other things we should never forget. Things that will encourage us, strengthen us and give us hope for our tomorrows.  Peter, realising our very human tendency to forget the things we should remember, brings our attention back to the things we have been taught in scripture. 2 Peter 1:12 “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the present truth.” Peter, as a preacher, wasn’t afraid to hammer home the same points again and again. He knew our propensity to forget the important things.  Storing scriptures up in our hearts is a good thing to do. When you need  them they can quickly surface.

Jesus reminded His disciples, and us, of this in John Ch.14:25-26 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things I said unto you.”

- Pastor David Goudy