Fresh Words from the Frog Meadow: Remember

Ah … Black Friday, Blitz Friday, or, as I prefer to call it, the day after Thanksgiving Day. I sit in my study at home, safe from the hordes of savage shoppers who laid early-morning siege on Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Target, and other retailers. I smile and sigh a contented sigh with a deep sense of satisfaction and appreciation for all the Lord has done and continues to do in my life.

Yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, was a splendid day with family. We laughed, we ate, we worked together, we watched parades and football games, and we remembered.

We remembered family. We remembered holidays past. We remembered to thank God for His grace and mercy and love. We remembered the sweet potato casserole!

Remembering is an important part of the human experience. Think of all the remembering we must do in a typical day. Here’s a short list of things to remember that I should routinely execute every weekday morning:

I need to remember to set the alarm the night before – and get to bed at a decent hour.

I need to remember to keep first things first and start the day with Bible study and prayer.

I need to remember to hug my wife and thank her for staying with me.

I need to remember to kiss the kids and pray with them before they leave for school.

I need to remember to help the kids remember to take their lunch and homework.

I need to remember to make sure the dogs have food and fresh water.

I need to remember to make coffee for my father-in-law.

I need to remember where I left the car keys.

I need to remember to grab my billfold.

I need to remember to make and take my lunch.

To be sure, there are many more tasks I should remember every day. This is only a list of things to remember to do before I leave my driveway! And they do not include various details peculiar to certain days of the week (such as take the trash out on Monday or call my mom at least once a week) or those assigned to me by Donna for any particular day (pay a certain bill, go by the grocery store, etc.).

I have discovered, however, that when I fail to remember any one of the items on my short list, my day invariably suffers varying degrees of chaos. We never appreciate fully the profound value of remembering until we forget a thing.

When I forget to set the alarm – and to get to bed early the night before – my failure to remember puts me behind for the entire day. When I do not remember to start with Bible study and prayer, I feel weak and disoriented and disheveled all day long. When I fail to hug my wife and kids, I feel regret. When I do not remember where I left the keys, I get impatient and frustrated. When I forget my billfold and my lunch, I feel … hungry!

The sad truth is, on any given morning I am likely to have forgotten, or intentionally failed to remember more than one of these simple keys to a successful launch of the new day. In fact, incredible as it may seem, some days I have missed every single one of these objectives. On such days, it is at least a minor miracle I make it past 10 in the morning without a total meltdown!

As I sit here and mull over the benefits of remembering well, or the consequences of remembering poorly, I think of other things to remember. I want to remember anniversaries and birthdays – before those days arrive. I want to remember the little things that make Donna grin or encourage our children to grow. I want to remember to notice God’s hand in my life and thank Him every day. I want to remember to smile and to share the joy of knowing Jesus Christ with every person I meet. I want to remember well and meaningfully this new Christmas season.

Did you know that some form of the word “remember” is found in over 220 verses in Scripture? At least 80 of those references use the verb as an imperative or command. I believe Father wants us to remember because what we remember has a powerful influence upon what we do. The Bible says what we think within ourselves is a reliable forecaster of what we do (Proverbs 23:7). Jesus declares, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). So, God calls us to remember – remember Who He is, remember what He has done and can do, remember who He says we are, remember what we can do in Christ, and remember what His Word can do in us.

For my part, as a husband, father, and pastor, I want to make this call to remember a priority this Christmas. Here are a few things we should remember this year:

1. Remember why Jesus was born, what His Advent and Incarnation mean for us, indeed, for all peoples.