For People Who Forget

It's easy for me to remember little details like a person's favorite color and candy. I surprise myself when I am able to remember almost an day in terms of what happened and what was said if it really means a lot to me. For the most part however, I can be an incredibly forgetful person! The worse part about this is that I can be incredibly forgetful of important things like birthdays, promises to pray for people, taking drug tests, etc. It's not like middle school where I was in the habit of writing down EVERYTHING! How many of us remember getting a little agenda notebook for the school year and writing down the homework each day? Even if it was to read the next chapter (as if that was really homework in middle school), you would write it down anyway because the teacher asked you to before you left to go home. Some of us today probably still write down everything and carry with them a to-do list for the day/week. It lists all of the chores and errands that need to be done. In case you forgot what to do next you could always refer to your list. This is where I'm gonna tie in the Christian part of this blog entry.

The Bible.

Some of you might already be thinking, "The Bible is not a to-do list...God is more focused on the heart...Our to-do list is to love God and love people."

Yes. All of this is true and I believe it wholeheartedly.

HOWEVER, this does not mean that I haven't, at one point or another, treated the Bible and this Christian life as one big to-do list. Last year is a great example of such a time. I was the Director of Student Ministries at my college and had many responsibilities. At the same time, I was in full time school and taking the toughest courses in my major. Surprisingly, it was also my best year academically. Anyway, I wrote a to-do list on a little board near my desk a few times a week. Meet with this person, do homework at this time after choir, plan for this event, email this professor and so on and so forth. There were plenty of times in which I neglected my devotional time with God, prayer for other people and reading my Bible. All the while, I would set up these worship services, speak a message that God gave me and witness firsthand the Lord working in the lives of so many people. And yet, in the inside I was feeling convicted and guilty of the very thing I was encouraging so many people to do and that was to seek after God.

Isn't easy to forget just how much God has done for us? Isn't it amazing how much we take for granted in regards to God's provision not only for our physical needs but with friendships, relationships, emotional peace and spiritual health? My life had become so focused on doing rather than sitting, acting rather than being and rambling/complaining rather than listening and praising. I'm  roughly 9 months out of college and the memories of freshmen and sophomore year (best year ever of my college experience) are slowly fading away. My Junior and Senior year is still somewhat intact but even they are drifting away as well. People have forgotten what I've said and what I've done and that's ok. Honestly, my job as a DSM was not to be remembered as this "strong and mature" Christian but to serve just as Jesus came down to serve. So long as one person came to grow in their relationship with God because of what I said or did for them, it makes it all worth it. The sleep I never got, the hours spent at my desk (practically everyday lol), giving away so much of myself emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually to many acquaintances was an incredible sacrifice and a great privilege. I would not take any of it back.

Jesus came down to serve and not to be served.
He performed several miracles, helped countless people and taught in many different places.
He underwent Roman capital punishment, brutal and humiliating; and for every believer we can see that it was also relieving and beautiful.
He lived a blameless life but died betrayed, abandoned and loathed by the very ones he came to save.
The message of Jesus' death and resurrection is quite clear:

- You're free to go
- The check cleared
- You got a jail free card
- Death is now 6172846513543 and 1
- The veil was torn
- The communication gap has been bridged between you and God
- YOU ARE FORGIVEN AND LOVED

It's just like Jesus to give us something to do as a way to remember Him.
As if what He had done and taught before wasn't enough, he told us to partake in communion.
We tend to forget important things sometimes.
Maybe it's because we hear the same message so many times that we forgot what it was like when we heard it for the first time and believed.
Communion is that time in which we remember exactly what Jesus did, who He is and what He demands for each and every one of us, complete surrender.

When we remember things about another person we truly care about, both big and small, it makes a world of difference to that person. I sincerely ask that you go about your day or week and remember all those favorites of one particular person that is close to your heart. Please don't make this an excuse to give your crush more gifts or treat them extra special. Send that person an encouraging note, their favorite candy, that book they've been wanting, a link to see a youtube clip to make them laugh, give them a hug, show up at their intramural games, go see that weird thing they are a part of, get into that thing they enjoy, etc. The possibilities are endless. Write them down if you need to.

In the same way, build that relationship with God in the same way. Tell Him what you love about Him, read that book that He inspired, sit down and listen to what He has to say, ask Him questions and try to understand His point of view (harder than it sounds).

It's easy to forget what a person has said or done when you care about them so much.
It's probably just as easy to choose to forget when that person you love has hurt you in some way.
Maybe you're in a place right now where life is just hard:

- You've been laid off
- Someone has been diagnosed with cancer
- There was a recent death in the family
- School is overwhelming you with work

The list goes on and on. Maybe God right now is the person you blame for all of this.
Maybe you're angry that God hasn't done anything to fix your marriage because it's falling apart.
I'm not saying I know why God allows certain things to happen nor am I blaming everything on the results of our free will in a broken world.
I honestly don't know.
But what I do know is that God knows exactly what pain feels like.
He's the only one who truly understands.
I ask you to remember Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection and what that means for you right now.
I ask you to remember to love those close to your heart.
I'm asking you to love God and love people and to learn to love yourself.
I don't know about you but don't forget that it's ok to take care of yourself.
You're no good in helping anyone if you don't take care of yourself first.
If you want, take communion.
Make it a priority today to remember, to confess and to surrender.