Called to Remember . . . Or Not?


REMEMBER

We are called to remember. God considered the concept of remembering so important He referenced it no less than 150 times in the Old and New Testaments combined.

The verse in question today turns the idea of "remembering" on its head and cautions us what NOT to remember.
"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old." Isaiah 43:18 ESV
I'm taking this one to mean don't dwell on the past. It's okay to remember it but don't stay there. Don't fixate on the things of old.

Learn from it.

Let it give you wisdom for your future self.

The following quote struck me as I have been forcing myself to go back as far as I can remember, to get back to that little Pam who was unblemished by years of mistakes, missteps, and misremembering (I guess that really is a word!):
"Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them." Richard L. Evans
 I find that all too true in my own recollections of my childhood. I didn't live in a home or family of opulence or great wealth.

My dad was a factory worker, and my mom was at home full time until I was ready to graduate high school and head to college.

She took on a job as the cleaning lady at our church in order for me to have the "extras" incurred by college expenses and my brother needing more things as he headed from middle school into his high school years.

Though that is a story for another day, I do not remember much of the material nature of my upbringing.

I always had enough.

What I do remember without fail is the need to be home. No matter where I have moved, how long it has been between visits, how infrequently we have spoken, I remember and long for what I have always affectionately referred to as "home home."

Because regardless of how well I have managed to establish a place for myself wherever I reside -- driving down that gravel driveway to my parents' house is "home home."

Yet in the going "home home" I must intentionally "remember not" those things that trap me, keep me steeped in past sins, steal the joy and peace from my present, or cripple me for my future. I am not there anymore. I am this:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
I think that's why God specifically instructs us in the key verse for today to "remember not" those things from our past. We are free. We are new. We can leave a trail of beauty, regardless of the ashes of our past.

What is God calling you to "remember not" today?

Leaving a trail of beauty~

Pam

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