What makes something, or someone, “memorable”?  The word itself is an adjective.  According to a couple of dictionaries I consulted, “memorable” means “notable, easily remembered, worth remembering because of being special in some way”.  In our way of speaking in America, I believe that the word “memorable” generally relates to things that are good and wholesome and worthy.  

We can certainly remember bad things.  Just this very morning, I found myself getting upset, all over again, about a mistake I remembered making back in 1978.  Yes, I make lots of mistakes, both before and since 1978, so I’m not sure what triggered this memory.  But I can still clearly see everything about that ancient incident in vivid detail in my mind.  I remember exactly the things that I did right in this incident, and I remember exactly what I did wrong, and I remember exactly what I should have done differently.      

Has something like this ever happened to you, or is it just me?  Anyway, while I would say that this ancient incident is something I “easily remembered”, I would insist that this incident is not something that is particularly “memorable”.  And that is true despite the fact that I did some things right.  The things I did right seem to be completely overshadowed by the one mistake.  And isn’t that usually the case when we look back and self-evaluate our performances?  The bad always seems to outweigh the good.  And since, in this particular incident, the bad certainly outweighs the good, the incident is not “memorable” to me.  Instead, it’s just a bad memory that lives forever in my head.            

For the same reasons, The Year 2020 will long be remembered, but not because it was “memorable”.  Instead, like one of those bad memories lurking in our sub-conscious minds, most of 2020 is just waiting for something to come along and trigger it to re-surface and replay itself like a bad movie, over and over in our conscious minds.

For me, and maybe for some of you, that trigger happened last week when it was announced that a gigantic Chinese rocket booster was going to fall out of space sometime this past weekend and crash to earth somewhere.  They just didn’t know when and they didn’t know where.  And there was nothing that anyone could do about it.  And if it happened to crash in a populated area, there would be massive casualties.  “But hey”, they said, “the chances are reasonably good that it’s not going to land on you,  so have a nice weekend!” 

Is that not 2020 all over again?  I mean, by the time 2020 was mercifully coming to an end last December, this was exactly the kind of thing that we had all come to expect every time we were foolish enough to turn on the news.  We were even used to it; we even joked about it, and we made bets about what kind of crazy thing would happen next.  Does anybody remember memes like this:

Our minds can overload when memories of past mistakes, and fears of future troubles dominate our thoughts, leading to all kinds of bad outcomes.  Some of you who have not yet gone completely in the tank for “cancel culture” might even remember how Scarlett O’Hara reacted when facing this kind of mental overload in the probably-already-banned book and movie “Gone With The Wind” – “Oh I can’t think about this now.  I’ll go crazy if I do.  I’ll think about it tomorrow…After all, tomorrow is another day.”

It should not surprise us that this is not the kind of thinking that The Lord desires for His children on earth.  “God’s Kingdom…is about doing what is right and having peace and joy.” – Romans 14:17.  Jesus Himself said that faith is all we need to concern ourselves about: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God.  Believe in me also.” – John 14:1. And The Lord, through The Apostle Paul, encouraged us to occupy our minds with things that are actually “memorable” in the best of ways – “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right.  Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others.  Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about…And the God of peace will be with you.” – Philippians 4:8-9.

What a great idea!  Instead of letting ourselves get all caught up in the mistakes of the past, and in the fears of the future, we can actually find peace, and we can actually enjoy being Kingdom People, by putting aside all such bad memories and fears, and then just simply believe that Jesus has everything under control, and simply think about wonderful, “memorable” things.  After the year we just had, doesn’t that kind of peace and joy sound like a good thing?            

Ambrose Ramsey | Shepherd