Who’s ready to read some more rambling thoughts about cool stuff??? Let’s goooo.
If you’re reading this blog, I’m assuming you have a mind & a consciousness. And, if that’s true, you also have a memory. Thankfully, God made us a little better than, say, goldfish in that we have the capacity to remember more than the last three seconds of your life. With this gift comes the ability to use past experiences as a walking stick of sorts. They help us feel stable in the current decisions we make, and it’s also easy to fall back to them if we stumble.
As we live day to day, these experiences and memories build up. More of them are stored in our head. Now, statistically, the more memories you make & the more space said memories take up in your mind. They start to do this thing where they float around in your consciousness exactly when you don’t want them to. They can show up at a time when you need to be present, and they try and suck you back to the past. Back to an easier time, a more fun time, sometimes even a rough time.
There are a few pathways I take when confronting a memory that has appeared out of the blue:
I sometimes indulge in this memory, replaying it in my head just to get a glimpse, a smidge, of the feeling the original setting produced. This happens usually when I feel as if the life in the memory has some more desirable aspects than our ongoing reality. I get, as the kids say, “caught in my feels”, wanting so badly to return to the life that once was. This obsession with that one moment leads to being unobservant and ungrateful for what the Lord is doing right in front of my eyes. Whether you know it, whether or not you believe it, God is always with you, trying to work with you to instill more of His character in you. Wishing and wanting to be anywhere/anytime else than where/when God has you currently is counterproductive to your growth, and therefore is a distraction from the Father.
Another thing I can do is take the memory and run with it, letting it play into our decisions and actions. Sometimes this is a good thing, and it can show that I’ve lived and I’ve learned. Other times it can show that I’ve lived, I’ve experienced, and I haven’t quite learned yet. When we experience something negative & don’t take time to process it and/or heal from it, we can react in an unhealthy way when a situation similar to the first one comes around.
I also can take the stuff from the past that’s floating around in our heads and bring it to God. Ask Him the things like “why this?” and “why now?”. I myself am often too curious to not ask Him. Soo, instead of making the memory or feeling or whatever it is from the past a distraction, it’s always an option to just ask our awesome, all-knowing, super intentional, incredibly loving Father what He wants us to make of it.
Philippians 3:13-14 “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.”
BONUS PICS
The little property where the kids at COVI play. Those tires have made for some fun jumping games, let me tell you.
My team leader, Olivia, who lost a game and has to wear her hair in an uncharacteristic party pony for the entire week. This may or may not be a selfie from her.
Cutie bean lady, Dan, WHO TURNED TWENTY TODAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEAN! Also, she literally MADE these cupcakes?? Who bakes their own cupcakes on their birthday? Dan does.
Right on the equator! Halfway point of the earth. That’s some crazy stuff. One foot in the northern hemisphere, the other in the southern.
Our mural at the senior’s home! It’s a lot more finished than this now, I’ll be sure to post an update picture as soon as I can.
Another picture at the equator with cutie bean lady. My outfit is killin’ it, we all know.
