DO WE SOMETIMES FORGET TO REMEMBER?

READ: Luke 17: 11-19

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Psalm 90: 12 (NIV)

One of my older friends called me aside after the church service and told me that they were going to sell their home. His “news” came as quite a shock to me as I knew that they had had their house built shortly after they married over fifty years ago. Naturally, I inquired as to reason for its sale. He told me that he believed that they would replace it with an one story house as every time to went upstairs to get something he forgot what he went up for and the strain of the frequent fruitless climbs was creating problems with his arthritic knees. His chuckle after he related this yarn assured me that he had been “pulling my leg”.

Although forgetfulness is commonly associated with the “Golden

Years”, I wonder if senior citizens have a monopoly on this trait. Maybe,

Regardless of our age we need to start concentrating on identifying and numbering things and events, which enhance the quality of our spiritual life. Unless we identify and enumerate, our memory is apt to be very tricky and snare us into strange forgetfulness. We are liable not only to forget the numerous blessings we encounter during the day but even more importantly, fail to identify their source.

Are we sometimes like the nine lepers in our Scriptural reading who

failed to return to thank the Lord for their healing? Reflecting on the

account of the healing of the lepers, I vowed that the end of each day I

would identify and record the blessings of the day. As I sat to write them

down the first five items came easily: good health, a loving family, fine

weather or living in a climate controlled house, good and abundant food,

freedom to worship as I pleased. After identifying these, the other blessings proved to be elusive. I asked myself, “Why should this be? Why was I unaware of some of my daily blessings?” I arrived at a rather disconcerting conclusion : I had tended to focus on what I wanted rather than what I had! Further, I found that I sometimes lamented the loss of something or someone yet had not thought to express thanks for these gifts while they were still they still present in my life. Once this realization dawned on me my search for daily blessings has become easier. In addition to my thank you list I have begun to jot down some concerns prompted by events of the day.

My lists of thanks and concerns have resulted in several conclusions:

(1) The items for which I was thankful always far outnumbered my

concerns. (2) My concerns were primarily those which I had little control –

these serve as prompts for prayers and also for future items of thanks!

The listing of both my thanks and concerns has helped me to more fully bring the reality of my living Lord into sharper focus. I am able to see more clearly how He is operating in my life. While some of the might conceive as some of my entries as “minor stuff”; these items are often those which add zest to life or reduce anxiety which often serves to reduce our

pleasure. Thank You, Lord. Amen.