6th of March 2023
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Dear Reader,
Will be sharing an article from the archive.
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In our Cognitive Psychology class last week, we started talking about memory. Memory has something to do with our past experiences that in any way can influence how a person thinks or is behaving now and or in the future (Joordens, 2011). Okay, let us not go through its analytical explanation, but a memory, despite its intangibility, allows us to be sad, be happy, and or be excited by simply remembering something in the past.
Imagine if you don’t have any memory, well I was reading John Maxwell’s book ‘The 15 Invaluable Law of Growth” he mentioned a person named Henry M which was a famous neuropsychology case documented in 1957. Mr. Henry M was suffering from epilepsy and it paved way for him to undergo surgery by removing a part of his brain. However, the side effect of this surgery, though his epilepsy was not apparent anymore, Mr. Henry M have seemed to lose his short-term memory.
Until then, he could not remember anything that he just did. For example, he could not remember his way to the bathroom, he could not remember that they moved into a new neighborhood, and if you both have lunch together, whatever you two have been discussing, he could not recall and or remember the topic and yes, he could not remember that he was done eating. Mr. Henry M was stuck in time.
Now, can you imagine yourself in the position of Mr. Henry M? Better not. Well, if you can still remember what you did this day and thus it makes you happy, that’s amazing! You have the opportunity to store it within you and make it something that would inspire you tomorrow.
Today, I, together with my churchmates and Pastor Dennis, went to a church in Basak Magpet to join them for worship, and really made me energized by simply seeing the people there worshiping God. True, I have tried seizing every moment there, but I can’t just stay there for the whole day, and so, when it was over and I already went home, I can only think of it by sitting in a chair at my desk inside my small room and reminisce how passionate that little drummer was when he played for worship lately. And or how joyful the worship team led the congregation lately in worship and how someone who was wearing a white polo could be so good in his leadership skill while standing in front to speak the matters of their church despite being young. Thanks to my memory tho, it can store some good stuff.
See? A memory inspires. It inspires us as long as we think of it as something that we can learn with.
A memory, however bad or good, will depend on our perspective as to how we would look at it and make sense of it, and make the most of it.
…And so there are times that we will feel bad, and if right now if you feel that way, think. Think about the things that the Lord has been faithful to you. Reminisce. Reminisce the good things that had happened to you a day ago, a week or two, or of those things that happened last year.
Go back to your write-ups and read them again. Read the simple things that the Lord showed up His greatness. Have you forgotten that hard moment when you were alone in your room, and suddenly someone comforted you through messenger and asked if you’re okay?
Have you forgotten that day of checking the test papers, and you were frightened if you’ll fail, but then again, He saved you. You have gotten a passing grade, and even the score you weren’t expecting at all.
Wow. That happened.
Have you forgotten the time you needed food to eat, and He provided? How about the moments where you were about to meet an accident, but He spared your life because the Lord knows you still have a purpose? The smiles you have gotten from people who you never thought who will smile back? The thing you were asking and was given to you right away? The victories of the past.
The list could go on forever. The point is, remembering God’s faithfulness is the key to make us believe again. It is those simple testimonies that give us hope to continue believing even if there’s no point we think at all to go on. You might haven’t experienced the Lord parted the Red Sea with you literally witnessing it, nor were you the one who was a witness on shutting the mouths of the lion (count this as an inspiration, oh Daniel), yet the simple things that the Lord intervened to you and through you all through the years, surely are powerful enough to encourage us.
I love the word memory, and I love memory itself. I just love how it works. It makes it possible for us to transcend through time, warts and all, and nestle unto an event or with a person that made us happy, and such is bringing us the courage to face the day again.
What’s best about it? Personally, it reminds me of something that God has done in the past. This is something that is an event biased to God because given the fact we could not see Him with our naked eyes, however, the things he let us encountered once or twice which made us believed He has been with us would be enough to be something that we can look back on and continue the race of this life that has been set for us until one day, we can finish it.
Our memory is a gift from God. Open it now, and may it bring back something that has been lost inside you for so many long time, and that no matter awful or awesome which only you can understand, may it gives you hope to anchor yourself in the facets of life.
I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O GOD, is holy.
Psalms 77:11-14 ESV
Have a restful night.
Grace be upon you.
Sincerely,
Kryz.