Tag: forgetting

Posted in memories

I don’t remember

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

On my big dog walk the other day, the idea of God’s omniscience popped into my mind. (Don’t ask me why. It’s not like I’m omniscient!) He has total knowledge of everything. He knows the past, present, and future, every detail about me and his entire creation. In other words, “God knows everything” (1 John 3:20).

  • In some ways, we used to know more than we do now. For instance, I used to know phone numbers. Since they are stored by name in my phone, those digits don’t have a place in my mind. At church recently, the youth director wanted the students to check in digitally. Unfortunately, the parents used their own phone number to register the family. None of the youth could recall that number.
  • I used to be pretty good with directions. Now I need a talking GPS to tell me where to go. I like the fact that my maps app gets me to my destination on the shorted possible route. But if the internet is down, I have no idea where I’m going.
  • I used to know geography. Stamp collecting helped me identify countries all over the world. Many have changed their names, and that knowledge is slipping.
  • I used to be very good at remembering birthdays. Then my family grew exponentially, and I had to make a chart.
  • I had locker combinations memorized in high school. Now, most schools don’t even let the students use lockers.

I read that our minds weren’t designed to remember everything. Our brain sorts out what is important, storing away what it thinks you’ll need to recall. I like to use mnemonic tools and tricks to make my brain retain more data than it normally would. Plus, I write out lists for myself.

God knows everything. The number of hairs on your head. What you’re going to say. How long you’ll live. Everything.

Except a believer’s sin. God says, “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). The eternal God isn’t starting to forget things. It’s just that the blood of Christ covers up our sin. I might have a hard time forgetting and forgiving myself, but God’s never going to bring it up again.

Posted in memories, noticing

You remembered!

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

I think I’m pretty good with names. I don’t work very hard at it. I just find them easy to remember. For some reason, people’s names stick in my mind. At least most of the time.

As I started down the pet food aisle at Walmart, I heard a voice behind me, “Pastor.” I turned and without even thinking said, “Hey, hi, Kathy!”

“You remembered my name!”

I had not seen her for about two years, but her name was right there on my lips. I didn’t even hesitate. So was her husband, Bob. We chatted for a few moments, then parted to find the things on our shopping lists.

In that moment, though, I couldn’t remember her last name. It was weird, because that doesn’t happen to me. I knew it started with a “B.” And I knew it was unique in some way. And I knew it was somewhere in my brain. But I just couldn’t pull it out of my memory.

I also knew that it would some to me sometime later that day. It’s happened before. I’ll be doing something completely different, and the name will suddenly come to mind. Sometimes it happens in an hour. Other times it takes a whole day. The information is in my head. I just can’t find it in the moment. So my subconscious works in the background, searching through files in my brain until it finds what I’m looking for. If I can’t remember something, I don’t worry. I know it will come to me. And it did. I think I was taking out the trash, and just like that Kathy’s last name popped into my mind.

This is fascinating. Somehow my brain knows what’s relevant and what’s not. If I’m probably not going to need a bit of information, it stuffs it away somewhere, like an old box full of papers up on a shelf. Or to be a little more twenty-first century, like digital files and pictures backed up to a flash drive.

I really like memory tricks. I use the peg list from Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Memory. I used the Memory Palace technique for many of my sermons. I love coming up with silly acrostics to remember lists. For example, I always recite “The Hippo Just Put Loose Corn in the Elephant Pen” to remember the things we ought to focus on in Philippians 4:8. “Whatever is True, Honorable, Just, Pure, Lovely, Commendable, Excellent, Praiseworthy…think about such things.” And one of these days I’m going to work on memorizing a deck of cards. There are a number of clever ways to do that. I still make a lot of written lists, too. Just the process of writing out a list helps me remember.

Having said all that, I’ve been converting old journals into digital form (I’m taking pictures of the pages). On those pages are things I’ve done, places I’ve gone, and people I’ve met that I don’t remember. I’m glad I wrote them down. I think my mind is aware of this. If I wrote it down, it doesn’t need to take up space in my brain.

Memory is a fascinating thing.

Posted in Ministry

I forgot.

Posted on by William Douthwaite

anne-zwagers-336058
Photo by Anne Zwagers on Unsplash

I forgot.

I just totally, completely forgot. The next morning, I glanced at my calendar and realized I was a no-show for an appointment I made with one of my homebound members several weeks ago. I made the appointment. I wrote it on my calendar. I was aware of it on Monday when I looked over my week. I was also aware of it on Friday when I realized I hadn’t gone.

I never do that. I never miss an appointment. I never skip out on a commitment. Never. What in the world is going on? Here are some possibilities.

  • I’m getting old. Starting to forget things. Do I have to go there? No, this is my blog. I’ll write about that when I’m ready. Unless I forget.
  • I got too busy. I wasn’t home binging on Netflix. I went to a rehab center to visit two members and then on to a hospital to visit another who had just had surgery. I needed to be there, too. Not a great excuse. Just an excuse.
  • I got sloppy. I didn’t set an alert on my calendar. I didn’t write myself a not the night before. I didn’t check my calendar that day. I just kind of slid into the day without checking in with myself.
  • I got distracted. By Advent. Christmas. Helping some guy I didn’t even know get a hotel room. Facebook. Twitter. Reddit. YouTube. Facebook.
  • I’m human. Oh no, I don’t like that one. I aspire to walk on water, turn water into wine, cast out demons and shut down the devil. Only problem is, I strike out over and over. And I don’t like that one bit.

Not long after I looked at my calendar and realized I had blown it, I got an email from the family. They apologized to me for not confirming the appointment. O not you don’t. This was my fault. I apologized to them. They graciously forgave and rescheduled. We’ll get 2018 off to a good start. With a clean slate, a clean conscience, and an overdue visit. And I set three alerts for that appointment!

God’s grace is indeed amazing. But sometimes, yours is pretty amazing, too. Thank you.