What do you Remember?

Thanksgiving holiday is behind us but the memory of each year lingers in our hearts especially as we miss those loved ones who have gone on to be with our Lord. My Dad loved Thanksgiving and Christmas above all holidays. He was born on Christmas day and took advantage of it by reminding us that he was to receive more gifts than anyone else. At 58 he was just too young to die but his laughter and love for family pretty much lives in all of us, his children. 

Daddy had a unique laugh and would often make faces while laughing. Mama wasn’t too happy about his burst of antics, to say the least, which would often provoke Dad to more creative faces. He would imitate Jackie Gleason and would pretend to knock Mama to the moon and back. “Pow, right in the kisser!” he would say.  As youngins’ running around the house, he would chase us pretending he was going to knock us to the moon and back as well. It’s funny what we remember. 

“The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Lying in its bony shell and washed by protective fluid, the brain is the source of all the qualities that define our humanity. The brain is the crown jewel of the human body.” 

As I read this one statement prepared by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, I was once again reminded that we are created by God with a mind that can be filled with HIM. What we allow to enter the mind, will be displayed somehow, some place and at some time. It is just a “matter of time” and why not use these three pounds to glorify God and change our “thinking” before it is too late! Let’s gather up if you please good memories as we discard or file away the hurtful ones.

On the other hand…….what about our children and grandchildren’s minds and memory? Children are hearing and seeing too much violence while we sit back and call it entertainment. Yes, I agree cowboys and Indians from the 50’s called for some violence but so much more danger lurks in media while stealing away our precious children’s minds. What shall we do? What are we doing? What can be done? The parents who need to read this will not, but you who do, please ask God to help you live in the Word, teach the Word and get the Word to the children. Children love stories, funny faces and music with games and movement. With that in mind, we can be creative and use the Bible for ALL of it! Thus, memories are formed, kept and rehearsed for the REST OF THEIR LIVES.

If you have good memories from past holidays especially this time of the year, pull them up on the screen of your mind. Talk your memory and you will be surprised at how refreshing it will be to others but to YOU as well. Talking good memories is very therapeutic. Rehearsing bad memories may activate that part of the brain which you may not need to be activated! You and I have to try and make that change if God’s Word is going to have an opportunity to take root and grow.

May I help You?

Ps 63:1-4 ¶ A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. ¶ Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

Speak openly to children about God’s watch care. Talk to God out loud in front of children. They repeat what they hear and trust me, they love to hear us talk to God!

2Pe 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour.

Allow the child to become the character of the Old Testament while you speak the Word out loud. And then allow them to put it in their own words. Children LOVE acting and like to show off in front of their friends. You have just created a happy memory and God smiles!

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Ps 77:11 ¶ I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
Ps 77:12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Speak of “God’s doings” to others. Think on what God has already done and place it in your memory bank to pull up as He leads you to speak it again and again and again.

Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Whatever the bad memory you have, practice Philippians 4:8 in the midst of it and take that bad to the good spot of our Lord Jesus Christ. There, He just took it! Now, go and tell what God did FOR you not AGAINST YOU. 

Until next time, Lord willing.

Sharon