{"id":357,"date":"2024-07-07T12:34:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T16:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/?p=357"},"modified":"2024-07-07T12:34:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T16:34:11","slug":"thanks-for-the-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanks for the Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Social gatherings can be highly stressful for people with memory issues! (Photo by Helena Lopes on Pexels.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
I am not known to have the best memory in the world\u2014or even in my own house.\u00a0 <\/span>I frequently meet and hold lengthy conversations with people who clearly know who I am. \u00a0Typically, it will happen at a church gathering, or at some kind of school reunion where people I have taught or taught with will meander over to me with a gleam in their eye.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cHey, David!\u201d Clearly this person knows me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey!\u201d I respond. This perfectly non-committal response is a delaying tactic I have perfected, hoping that sooner rather than later something will be said to give me a clue who this is in front of me.<\/p>\n
The conversation that follows can sometimes be quite extensive, as I dodge and weave my way through the minefield of trying to be engaging without revealing my utter lack of recall.<\/p>\n
After they leave, I\u2019m accustomed to leaning over to my wife and whispering, \u201cWho WAS that person, anyway?\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m not proud of this, and before you ask, I don\u2019t know why I don\u2019t just \u2018fess up and say, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, my memory is going; could you remind me of your name?\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Interestingly enough, while I don\u2019t have a great memory for relatively recent events, I can recall events from childhood surprisingly well.\u00a0 <\/span>When I say childhood, I mean EARLY childhood\u2014like crib-level events!\u00a0 <\/span>Seriously. For example, I have a recurring memory of being in my crib under a wool blanket.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m crying because the blanket (it was a kind of pea green color) was itchy and irritated my sensitive skin.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve always been a sensitive kind of guy, what can I say?\u00a0 <\/span>My mother was becoming exasperated because I kept kicking the blanket off, so she came in and actually safety-pinned it down around me. I can remember being a toddler and pitching a fit about something or other and having my favorite toy truck taken away as punishment.\u00a0 <\/span>My mom called it a car, and I remember even at that young age being put out because EVERYONE knew it was a truck and not a car.\u00a0 <\/span>I remember sitting on the curb outside my apartment as a small boy waiting for my grandparents to arrive for a planned visit, and then being surprised when they somehow came in without me seeing them.\u00a0 <\/span>Now, I know these are not perfect memories, and some details may have been misconstrued and corrupted by time, but they are my memories.\u00a0 <\/span>My own.\u00a0 <\/span>And I cling to them for some reason.<\/p>\n
The God I serve has, we would presume, a perfect memory.\u00a0 <\/span>Nothing happens that he does not see, and there is nothing he forgets.\u00a0 <\/span>Well, except for one thing.\u00a0 <\/span>God does forget one thing, and I find it ironic that the one thing he doesn\u2019t remember, I cannot seem to forget.\u00a0 <\/span>The Bible says God has removed our transgressions from us, \u201cas far as the East is from the West\u201d (Psalm 103:12<\/a>) and that he will cast our sins, \u201cinto the depths of the sea\u201d (Micah 7:19<\/a>).\u00a0 <\/span>One of God\u2019s greatest promises to us is to, \u201cRemember [our] sins no more\u201d (Jeremiah 31:34<\/a>).\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t know about you, but I find this concept intriguing and awesome and wonderful\u2013and, in a way, troubling.<\/p>\n
Jesus can free us from the prison of guilty memories. (Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Why troubling?\u00a0 <\/span>Because this is one area where I tend to outdo God.\u00a0 <\/span>I cannot seem to forget my own transgressions.\u00a0 <\/span>My memory in this area, and this area alone, seems almost perfect.\u00a0 <\/span>How I wish it weren\u2019t.\u00a0 <\/span>How I wish I could learn to forget what God has forgotten and remember what he remembers! I need to learn to lean on God\u2019s forgetfulness and stop trying to remind him of what he has already put out of his mind.\u00a0 <\/span>Part of being remade into his image is to let him cleanse both our being and our memory of our former failures, not in the sense that we do not know they happened, but in the sense that we have forgotten how to serve those failures and forgotten how to give those past failures control\u00a0 <\/span>over our minds and self-perceptions today.<\/p>\n
Are you there?\u00a0 <\/span>Is this your struggle.\u00a0 <\/span>Try memorizing Hebrews 10:14<\/a>, my life verse:<\/p>\n
\u201cFor by one sacrifice He has made perfect those who are being made holy.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s it! God has made (that\u2019s something completed in the past with ongoing effect) perfect (without blemish or fault) forever (this accomplishment doesn\u2019t have an expiration date) those (that\u2019s us) who are being made (happening now and ongoing) holy (set apart for God\u2019s purpose).<\/p>\n
Whatever other memories your mind tries to hang on to, put it to work hanging on to this verse, remembering this promise.\u00a0 <\/span>And drop a comment below sharing how God\u2019s promise that he has made us perfect and is making us holy has encouraged you along the way.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am not known to have the best memory in the world\u2014or even in my own house.\u00a0 I frequently meet and hold lengthy conversations with people who clearly know who I am. \u00a0Typically, it will happen at a church gathering, or at some kind of school reunion where people I have taught or taught with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5366,"featured_media":366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[93,81,90,69,96,63],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-freedom","tag-grace","tag-guilt","tag-memories","tag-perfect","tag-regret"],"yoast_head":"\nThanks for the Memories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"God has forgotten our sins and transgressions and he can free us from the prison of our own guilty memories.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thanks for the Memories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"God has forgotten our sins and transgressions and he can free us from the prison of our own guilty memories.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Blessed and the Broken\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-07T16:34:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/2084\/2024\/07\/pexels-1280-wildlittlethingsphoto-3700250.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Denton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Denton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/\",\"name\":\"Thanks for the Memories\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-07T16:34:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-07T16:34:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#\/schema\/person\/7c75435b90ad1a2703747c10ece43768\"},\"description\":\"God has forgotten our sins and transgressions and he can free us from the prison of our own guilty memories.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thanks for the Memories\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/\",\"name\":\"The Blessed and the Broken\",\"description\":\"Meditations faith and spirituality for the modern seeker.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#\/schema\/person\/7c75435b90ad1a2703747c10ece43768\",\"name\":\"David Denton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fae31b19e51a6c3a54a8adfb1e79f504?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fae31b19e51a6c3a54a8adfb1e79f504?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Denton\"},\"description\":\"I am a former high school teacher (English, history, religion) with a desire to seek and know Truth, so far as it can be known. Besides writing for this column, I enjoy practicing self-therapy through poetry. I\u2019m happily (and mysteriously) married for 34 years, and I have two young adult daughters. I write to challenge, inspire, and encourage\u2014myself, mainly, along with any who might be reading over my shoulder.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/author\/ddenton\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thanks for the Memories","description":"God has forgotten our sins and transgressions and he can free us from the prison of our own guilty memories.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thanks for the Memories","og_description":"God has forgotten our sins and transgressions and he can free us from the prison of our own guilty memories.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/","og_site_name":"The Blessed and the Broken","article_published_time":"2024-07-07T16:34:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/2084\/2024\/07\/pexels-1280-wildlittlethingsphoto-3700250.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Denton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Denton","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/","name":"Thanks for the Memories","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-07-07T16:34:11+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-07T16:34:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#\/schema\/person\/7c75435b90ad1a2703747c10ece43768"},"description":"God has forgotten our sins and transgressions and he can free us from the prison of our own guilty memories.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/07\/thanks-for-the-memories\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thanks for the Memories"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/","name":"The Blessed and the Broken","description":"Meditations faith and spirituality for the modern seeker.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#\/schema\/person\/7c75435b90ad1a2703747c10ece43768","name":"David Denton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fae31b19e51a6c3a54a8adfb1e79f504?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fae31b19e51a6c3a54a8adfb1e79f504?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"David Denton"},"description":"I am a former high school teacher (English, history, religion) with a desire to seek and know Truth, so far as it can be known. Besides writing for this column, I enjoy practicing self-therapy through poetry. I\u2019m happily (and mysteriously) married for 34 years, and I have two young adult daughters. I write to challenge, inspire, and encourage\u2014myself, mainly, along with any who might be reading over my shoulder.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/author\/ddenton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}