Forgetting is a problem 

Forgetting is also beautiful!

 

 

I forget.

 

I'm not talking amnesia kind of forget. Amnesia typically refers to shock or injury that leads to the loss of memory.  I don't suffer from amnesia, but I have certain gaps in my memory where I have subconciously substituted the spaces with whatever I want; sort of creating false memory.

There is a hole in the door of my childhood bedroom. My sister and I have a memory gap when it comes to the exact cause.  I think we each created our own self-justifying false memory.

There are other times I just can't recall a piece of information that I know remains temporarily locked at an undisclosed location in my brain.  I forgot my zip code for an embarrassing 45 seconds the other day when I was trying to get gas at a convenience store.

The kind of forgetfulness that occurs most frequently is the kind of forgetfulness that suggests inattention or carelessness like the time I forgot Hayden's first driving lesson. 

This kind of forgetfulness happens with one of my children when it comes to turning in assignments occasionally.  It happens with another when it comes to brushing her teeth. We all suffer from forgetfulness.

I'm not as gracious as I should be when I'm the one being forgotten. When someone has failed to remember to call me back, or that it's my birthday I have a tendency to equate forgetfulness with love level.  Let me show you my erroneous equation.

Forgetting= Lack of love, lack of loyalty

Forgetting= not caring,

Of course when it's me who's doing the forgetting, I attribute my not remembering to busyness, airheadedness; I've even diagnosed myself with ADD.  I would hate to think that anyone would feel like I cared little for them because I forgot to do something I said I would do.  In the frequent event that I have "forgotten" I rely on grace.

We are imperfect.

We hurt others though it is rarely our intention.

Saddest is the fact that we forget the One who always loves us, the One who is loyal and cares for us.  I carelessly leave my bible unopened for days on end.  I eat the food in my cupboard forgetting the hands that truly feed me.  While my excuse for forgetting is busyness (I am juggling a thousand chores)-  God cares for me while juggling the planets.

Forgetting is almost not a part of his vocabulary.

He remembers the way I felt when half of my bridesmaids deserted me the night before my wedding to have their own bachelorette party without the bride.  He never forgets my birthday.  He doesn't forget me and he doesn't forget the motherless/fatherless children in Kenya that I think about fondly ever so often.  He doesn't forget about my friend who lost her child this summer who I remember to pray for on occasion.

He remembers.  But there IS something he forgets.

He forgets our sin.

I-yes, I alone--will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

Isaiah 43:25

God's forgetfulness is not the amnesia kind, not the busy kind.  I can remember times when I've been indebted to someone.  They say "Forget about it".  They have CHOSEN to forget; that is the beautiful kind.

Sometimes I forget God.  I forget about his goodness.  He forgets my bad.

God forgets my sin.