I Lost My Memory (Card)

Losing stuff is becoming a career lately.

It started with my, progressive, scratch- shielded, Kate Spade, prescription sunglasses. Taking out a small loan from a foreign country to pay for them, I determined to guard them with my life. Then one magical moment, I looked down and they were gone. Searching high and low, inside and out, near and far I resolved that they were out there somewhere in the same place where lonely single socks wind up and unruly Rubbermaid lids abandon their partners.

Then there was the memory card. You know those half-inch, paper thin items that store the most important memories ever? The ones that are bound to be misplaced? The ones that will keep you up all night wracking your brain with thoughts of deep shame because you didn’t PRINT those beautiful pics?! Yeah, I lost THAT one. The one with my daughter’s wedding photos imprinted on a silicon chip. Gone.

Recently it was a birthday present. A very well-thought-out, deeply personal, sent-from-another-state by a sister-in-Christ gift. Just for me. I searched high and low for it but it departed with no clues left behind. *sigh*

I haven’t speculated as to the cause of this losing streak. Maybe it could be the accumulation of years and the diminishing of brain cells. Maybe there are way too many distractions. Maybe I say “yes” too often. Maybe the American Dream way of life has cluttered my desk and muddled my mind. But I DO know that something has to change.

“Intentional” has been overused recently, but nevertheless it remains an important concept. Slow and steady intentionality (think tortoise and hare) seems to be the way to brain clarity and memory. To stay in the moment and think requires the very intention to do it. A.D.D. is no joke. It has become a way of life for many of us, but that is not the abundant life-giving existence Jesus Himself calls us to. The very act of being aware of His Presence calls us to a higher place of awareness that, I believe, will permeate into every area of our existence.

I lose things because I am not aware of the very moment I’m in. I lose things because I am not presently aware and because the very moment I am in is filled with “otherness” and the next thing and LCD screens. And in the searching I am made aware that I am losing the time I supposedly gained by all the technology and tending to the material.

We are called to remember with the help of Holy Spirit His mercies and to forget the “former things”.

“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 that I said to you. –John 14:26

Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past. 

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it. –Isa.43:18-20

I may forget where my glasses are. I may misplace my memory. But, Jesus help me if I ever forget what HE has done with my life! I want the remembrance of His mercy to be imprinted on my soul so that it leads me to living in the “present riseness” of Christ (thank you Brennan Manning). And from that base, all my thoughts will stand to attention embracing the reality of what is right in front of me. Finding awareness of the “new thing” that God is doing and losing the need to focus on the future or dwell on the past will keep me stayed on the current moment.

While this ADD type brain surrenders to the significant sights and sounds the Savior presents in the present, I will focus upon His Word and His ways.

But first, has anyone seen my glasses??