DEVOTION

Unforgettable

…Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. – James 1:22-25

Recently, I was having dinner with my sister, and we found ourselves talking about some of the events of our childhood. She kept bringing up stories of things that we had done as kids - mainly situations where I got in trouble and she didn’t. It was a fun evening of reminiscing about people, places, and things long left in the past. Maybe you’ve experienced a similar evening with siblings or friends; swapping stories of childhood escapades. If not, I highly recommend it for a couple of reasons. First, hearing other people’s version of shared events helps to fill in the gaps in your own mind. Maybe they know more about the story, or they perceived the outcome differently. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, they help to impress upon us the fascinating creation known as the human brain.

At the risk of sounding like a poorly written riddle or a Yogi Berra catch phrase, it is impossible to remember everything we remember. While everyone can appreciate having their memories jogged, what really impressed me about the conversation was just how deeply these memories had been stored. Some of the stories we shared hadn’t entered my thoughts for decades, but once they were mentioned, I was astonished at just how quickly and how vividly my brain recalled the information.