Staying on the Grid

When I was a child, there were times I would start a sentence and then forget what I was about to say.  And although it only happened occasionally, my mom’s response was always, “well, it must not have been that important anyway.”  That must have been a saying she heard growing up, and, from the surface, seemed correct enough to pass along.  

Now, well, forgetting my thoughts mid-sentence occurs much more than I would care to admit.  Very important things can slip my mind.  More often than not, when I think, “surely I will remember this,” I find later that once again, it completely slips off the grid.  It’s not that we remember the important things and forget the inconsequential.  It is that we are so bombarded by the urgent, that less urgent, important items get pushed back and forgotten.

What is important I need to write down, or at least put into my notes app, so that I don’t forget.

I remember the time when my daughter was three, I picked her up from Sunday School and she was despondent.  “What’s wrong?” I asked.  “Nobody teached us again today.”  I thought, “what person would just neglect a classroom of three year olds?  Don’t they care enough to even call in if they can’t make it?”  Then a pit formed in my stomach.  I was the one assigned that class that day.  I was the thoughtless adult who didn’t have the decency to call in.  I had just plum forgotten.  You could have wiped me off of the floor at that moment.  How do I explain to an adorable, sad three year old that she was important, that her class was important?  To her, she was just forgotten.  Or how about the time my son had to walk miles to the nearest telephone because I had forgotten to pick him up after practice?  Or my daughter, standing in the dark after soccer practice, because her mother didn’t set an alarm and was late?

Whether we like it or not, our actions, or in this case, inactions affect others.  That is why it is so important to take necessary measures to remember the important things.  God the Father had his children set up memorials in places with large stones so that they had a tangible reminder of what He had done for them.  

So, for me, excuses don’t cut it.  If something is important enough to think, “I need to remember this,” then it is important enough to write it down, set an alarm, put it in my calendar.  The methods may change, but the message is the same:  “Remember.”

STOP