During the children’s segment of one morning service, our pastor spoke to the children about the meaning and significance of the rite of Communion. He introduced the subject by saying that on three separate Sundays he would address the subjects of Remembrance, Communion and… oops, I forgot the third topic.
After his introduction he asked the children, “Do you know what the word ‘remembrance’ means?” No response. Next, “Do you know what it means to remember?” A number of them offered an explanation; yes, there definitely was a basic understanding of the word amongst the children. He congratulated them and moved on from there to his next question.
“How many of you know what it means to forget?” Joining the excited response from the kids, came an almost unanimous lifting of hands from, I believe nearly every senior, if not every adult, in the congregation. While their laughter was contagious, I’m not sure if the kids got it. This I do know, though, someday they will.
As far as I’ve experienced, forgetting is part of getting old. Names of persons as well as places where I’ve seen him, her or them sometimes eludes me; I do find it a source of comfort, though, to run across the number of people who don’t remember my name either! In an effort to thwart some of my absentmindedness, I’ve been doing lots of crossword puzzles and writing things down. Thankfully both strategies seem to help.
In my daily giving of thanks to the Lord for His goodness to me, one of the top items is the fact that His forgiveness enables me to move beyond my failures. He never forgets to meet my every need and He doesn’t even forget my feeblest efforts to serve Him.
“[God] who remembered us in our lowly state,… His mercy endures forever.” (Psalm
