This week I ate a banoffee scone for the first time. As I bit into it and its sweet flavours rolled around my pallet, I was shocked to remember, that this wasn’t actually the first time I’d tasted a banoffee scone at all. I, by my own admittance, have a terrible memory. I can forget (and probably have but it’s hard to be sure) entire conversations and events, name and faces, and PIN numbers with ease. The funny thing is that the strangest of things can bring back memories and knowledge that I didn’t even know I had; 90’s pop songs, bad jokes, and even bad smells can bring back forgotten holidays, forgotten feelings, and even forgotten maths equations.
I think maybe humans inherently have bad memories, at least for certain things. Especially in our age of “too long; didn’t read” character limited twitter feeds and wordless Instagram posts. Not that I’m complaining about those at all, I love a good catchy quote and a word does say a thousand words anyway right? And there’s nothing wrong with living in the moment, in fact it’s a very good thing to do. But being in the moment doesn’t have to come at the cost of not remembering what has come before or the things that have helped shape us along the way. I think maybe when we lose sight of those things, we start to lose parts of who we are too. In the bible God talks a lot about doing things to help remember all that He’s done for His people (usually throwing a party), I think because God knows how prone we are to forget and because He knows how damaging forgetting these things can be for us. I may have a bad memory, but it doesn’t mean I have to forget the things that are important, I just have to decide what things I never want to forget and think of good ways to help me remember them, who doesn’t like a good party anyway!?
