Memory Can Be Your Master

“I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious — the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” Phil 4:8

Paul, the author of the wise words above, is recommending in the present tense and thinking ahead in the future tense. “…you will do best…” if you do this now. Something like: think about these things if you want a happy and meaningful tomorrow. But what about those memories we file away, the past tense of yesterday’s successes and failures? Most of us could fill one of those fancy new storage facilities with the boxes of our memories. Climate controlled, laid out like little apartments in multi-storied buildings, the memory motel business is booming. Lots of reasons for the boom, I know. One is certainly that memories have a long shelf life, even the ones we don’t want to keep; and, memories are often powder kegs waiting for a match. If you give them any encouragement, they bang on the storage room door until you let them out.

Memories can take over and run the show. And that’s not always good. Thus Paul’s good advice: unless you really need a memory in the moment, fill your mind with lots of good and wholesome thoughts and let the memories rest. A word to each of us: I am responsible for what tumbles around in my mind. I choose the good thoughts and the not-so-good ones. How and what I think creates my reality of the moment. A word to memories: sit down and be quiet. I’ll call you if I need you.

What I think is most often what I do. Be very careful about opening the storage boxes of memories. The contents are life-directing. Be very intentional about what runs through the corridors of your mind in this moment. And in the mix of powerful memories and tomorrow’s unknowns, be sure to include determined faith in the One who creates all our tomorrows and calls us into them. Christ is the now of our lives, standing between the “was” and the “will be.” Fill your mind with Christ and the good, the just and the meaningful will follow. Press on.