Nudge The Memory

Yesterday, I was at the hardware store for a few bags of fast-drying concrete, and I met a man chatting with the proprietor. He stepped back so I could order and pay, and we had a few interesting moments of conversation in and out of the store. He’s 15 years older than I, so that would mean he’s from a pre-baby boomer era. In reality, it means he lived through events I never experienced and experienced life during the season where I was just becoming aware.

As we both talked about our pasts and what brought us to this day, we both had senior moments. We paused and used all our powers of concentrations to nudge the memory into recitable prose.

His was probably age and health. Mine came from entering that season where we even think about words to call them. What did I just say? Oh, yeah. Senior Moment.

I chuckled under my breath and realized I’m hanging around more and more with people who are entering these years or have had them for a long, long time. It’s affecting every phase of my life!

Remember The Memories

We’ve all had these moments of walking into a room and not remembering why we showed up. Some even retrace their steps to see if that will nudge the memory and create an ah-ha moment. Others just keep on moving, never remembering what they were there for. Yes. Alright. It happened to me yesterday. I don’t know for what, but I remember standing there saying, hmmm?

While moving through some storage problems on my computer, I happened upon some pictures and recordings from years gone by. Some I remember very well. Others I remember the times. Still, some are questionable. Was I was even around when they were recorded? Well, I enjoyed the research but found I was bogging down in the “recall mode” and not completing the task.

We enjoy remembering. At least I do. I back into memory in my mind, and if all is working well, I remember a lot of the moment. It’s what we do when we are sharing, especially when sharing more than is needed for the present. While it may be good to have all the pieces and parts of memory working, I do not need to tell someone all the turns to the location when asked for something like an address. That’s what mapping and GPS are for. “Just the address, ma’am. Just the address.” (In my Joe Friday voice.)

Perhaps the things we miss out on the most are generational memories. We probably don’t care when young, even though there are more around who remember the way-back-when times. As we age, we start looking for our roots through dusty files and those modern DNA ancestry sites that tell the broad story of our roots and heritage.

Remembering Our Generational God

This took me down a path about God. Most of us don’t remember the past where our prayers produced the results when we say, “Thank you, Lord!” Yet, I have great memories of those who trusted in the Lord and had great stories to tell about their predicament and how the Lord helped them!

Throughout scripture, we find verses telling us to remember God from generation to generation.

But You, O Jehovah, shall dwell forever,
and Your memory to generation and generation.
(Psalms 102:12 LITV)

How do these memories pass to the next generation? By sharing the stories of the previous generations. We will sit around the campfire and reminisce about the days of old and tell the kids, “Now, you need to remember this.” Perhaps we wait for the minister or singer to tell a story from scripture, but we seldom talk about it with our children the same way. Why? We often leave it up to someone else to tell in such an age-fascinating way that the little minds will remember. We remember the alphabet better when we sing it or recite it as a poem!

I sang the opening lines of a song in an Easter Cantata back in 1986.

Tell me the story of Jesus,
write on my heart every word;
tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard.
~Fanny Crosby, 1880

It’s good to have someone tell me the story, but I need to be responsible enough to tell the story myself.

He’s A Right-Now God

He’s not a God of only the past, even the light in a prior generation. No. He’s a Right Now God! Today. This moment.

I’ve often written about Breath Prayers (Even a sigh is a prayer.) Could this not also be how we remember God? Every breath is prayer and praise to Him. Every prayer starts and ends with him. Thus every praise is to our God and not to anything temporal. Every thought should begin with putting God first and following up with action that tells us and others. God Is Real!

We must live this so the generational memory of God will be successful. Our actions must prove we believe in a God that is everlasting. Yesterday. Today. And way off into all the future tomorrow!

Can you do it? Sure. You start by practicing it, and before long, you are doing it without even thinking about it. It’s who you are! Your Senior Moments will still happen, but you have a Godly thought about how to find them!