How Quickly We Forget

It’s a haunting melody, and a haunting message.

How quickly we forget.

In times of difficulty, we turn to God and plea for help. We worry, we fear, we despair… And then, God delivers.

…Delight emerges where there was only despair

…Opportunity appears where none was unimaginable

…Light shines out from amid loss

…Joy springs up unpredictably

We shower our thanks to the God who delivers

And yet, how quickly we forget.

When the worries and fears and despair return, we wonder…

…Is this the time when God will fail to come through?

…Is this the time when God will abandon?

…Is this the time when I will be forsaken and left all alone?

And we convince ourselves that this is indeed what has happened.

We seek solace in the things we can control; we cast images of our own making; we conclude that we have no option but to fend for ourselves.

How quickly we forget.

Yet, at moments when the world seems to be crumbling around us, even when we find it so easy to forget those moments of redemption…

God remembers.

…God remembers a covenant made long before our birth, to love and care for and guide us

…God remembers, graciously, to show us compassion even when we turn away

…God remembers all our worries and fears and despair and holds them, tenderly, patiently, waiting to continue the journey with us

And as this eternally loving God listens, the fog of forgetting begins to lift from our eyes.

And we see, with a clarity that we may have had before, and with a certainty that grows stronger once again, that God has been with us all along.

May we ever bless God’s holy name. Amen.