Memories…

“Like the corners of my mind…misty water-colored memories of the way we were”

A favorite memory: sitting on the front porch with my Granny, listening to her stories. Mostly ghost stories, if I’m honest. I can’t recall a single one about her mother, or anyone else in the family.

Reminiscing can be wonderful. It can also be not so wonderful. But that’s almost beside the point — good, sad, or fearful, the pull is the same: familiarity. There’s no fear of what’s next when you’re looking backward at what’s already happened.

Lately I’ve been wondering if climbing the staircase of memory is even a good use of my time. Are good memories the default? Or does one good memory tend to drag ten not-so-good ones up behind it? Left to itself, the human mind isn’t exactly a positive influence. It runs to the corners, like the song says.

So I turned to Scripture, curious whether rehearsing the past — remembering events, dwelling on tradition — was actually something we’re told to do.

Here’s what I found: the call to remembrance is everywhere. But when I looked at what we’re actually told to remember, it kept narrowing down to one thing. Only one thing worth dwelling on. Only one thing worth categorizing, worth rumination.

God.

Not any human — that much is clear. We’re called to remember Him: what He’s done, what He’s doing. Even when He led His people out of slavery and gave them life, freedom, agency — He didn’t point them back to where they came from. He pointed them to what He did. That still gets me.

We’re not told to replay our failures. We’re not told to replay anyone else’s, either. What if there were less remembering what I did — good or bad — and more remembering what God has done, His work in my life? When I glance back, I tend to see myself. But God invites me to see Him instead. We’re called to remember one thing: God — His commands, His goodness, His faithfulness, His provision, His care, His strength. Him. Him. Him.

I’m done ruminating on what others have done. When I look back now, I’m looking for His work. That’s what I’m told to remember.

That doesn’t mean forgetting where I’ve been. It means letting the past stop being a mirror and start being a testimony — proof of where Christ found me, and reason enough for someone else to hope He’ll find them too.