Remember a Memory

(The picture contains “Forget Me Not” flowers. Remember them?)

Early this morning, and for no apparent reason, I had a memory pop into my mind. Very random. It’s odd. I’m not sure why it showed up, but I sure remember the moment!

For some reason I was with mom and dad,
downtown Houston, I think.
About 6 years old, or so.
And we were eating Chinese food,
and I had my first taste of Sweet and Sour in the same bite!
First time? Not sure. But probably.
It sure struck a chord and stored itself in my memory banks!

And I recalled it this morning for some unknown reason! I wasn’t thinking about food, or mom and dad! I had no thought about Texas or Houston. Nor was I thinking about teeth issues!

I called home! Do you remember this? Yes! Downtown Houston. Fannin Street. A place she used to go to before she married and working downtown in about the 300 block of Main, or somewhere around there, for the T.W. Lopp insurance company! Uncle Perry and his co-worker would pick her up and they would go eat at the same Chinese restaurant that I was enjoying years later!

Her memories went even further back! Why? Those are her memories and not mine. But the connection across the decades is amazing to contemplate. None of the offices or restaurants exist today. It’s nearly 60 years later! If we know anything about how life progresses, we know it’s constantly changing!

Where do our memories come from? We often remember the highs and the lows, but those everyday things we enjoy, or dread, well, they must be somewhere in our mind, but where? How do we pull them out? Can they be trusted?

I asked someone about a particular time period of memories
and was told that more than likely they only remember the times
because of all the stories shared,
but they were not really sure about their personal memories.
They were perhaps too young? Maybe.

Too many studies indicate that memories are simply recalled when “…specific groups of neurons are reactivated…any stimulus results in a particular pattern of neuronal activity – certain neurons become active in more or less a particular sequence…” [Source] Voila! Memories are recalled!

Memories are stored throughout the cortex and not just one part of the brain. And, they seem to be duplicated! If one part of the brain refuses to work, memories may simply be dredged up from another location. [Source] “If the hippocampus is the search engine, the prefrontal cortex is the filter determining which memory is the most relevant.” [Source]

Maybe this is why we have deja vu moments. Something we are involved in seems to fit something we have stored in our memory banks. Parallel events? Perhaps. At least there is enough similarity so that the mind says, “I’ve been here before.” Something like this easily makes us feel off our game and a bit confused. Is this real, or is it Memorex?

Remembering is a process. Sometimes the past rears its ugly head at the most inopportune time, and at other times we strive to remember the good, the bad, and even the downright ugly! Before Science or Medicine attempted to study and teach about the skill of memories, I wonder what they thought about it hundreds and thousands of years ago?

Here’s my thought today. God has an excellent memory! I’m not sure his skill of remembering is substantially different than ours, especially if we are made in his image, however, he has thousands of years of history to deal with and we only have a few short years. Remember when?

And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
(Genesis 9:12-16 NKJV)

Think about it. From before creation, He remembers. What happens tomorrow? He knows! His range of past, present, and future begins and extends past anything you and I can comprehend.

Scripture provides no explanation on how memory works, where it comes from, and how you specifically recall the past. But throughout Scripture, we are taught to remember the past with some skill, and normally it’s done by a tool to spark the thought.

The psalmist pens these words to help spark the memory and to help us know that God remembers. But notice how he does it. (Emphasis mine.)

O give thanks unto the LORD;
call upon his name:
make known his deeds among the people.
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him:
talk ye of all his wondrous works.
Glory ye in his holy name:
let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
Seek the LORD, and his strength:
seek his face evermore.
Remember his marvellous works that he hath done;
his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.
He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth.
He hath remembered his covenant for ever,
the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
(Psalms 105:1-8 KJV)

Action words, every one of them! Give. Make known. Sing. Talk. Glory. Rejoice. Seek. Remember. Every action of memory strikes the chord in the mind to recall even more memories. Sharing these memories spreads the information to others, who then store, recall and share on their own. It’s like a collective consciousness! But only if you act on it.

At the end of some explanations and teaching, Jesus simply says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” (Luke 17:32) The Greek word is indicative of the process of “exercising memory”. Yes. Our memory muscle needs to be taken out and exercised every so often, else we forget what our memories contain!

I remember sitting around the camp fire on Lake Murvaul in East Texas. Dad, Uncle Joe and others were shooting the breeze and remembering their funny stories of the past. I remember sitting around with my siblings, but normally around a dinner table, reminiscing about our past. Some remember the same event differently than others, but the memories are there. Just waiting to be recalled!