Taking time to remember is important!
Much of our lives are shaped by if and how we remember what has happened.
At a seminar, the presenter encouraged us to reflect on our early memories and consider why we remembered those particular moments. One observation was that early memories are strongly connected to emotional experience. The birth of siblings, hard falls and broken bones, family tragedies. But she also drew attention to those who had early memories of very ordinary things and pointed out that many people have vivid childhood memories of things that don’t seem especially important, but that had been remembered periodically. Research had found that having reminders and even a conscious practice of recollection can keep early memories from fading, like revisiting a mental scrapbook.
Today’s Psalm is a short excerpt from a much longer hymn. Psalm 68 probably originated as a liturgical hymn for a particular pilgrimage feast, but it includes snapshots from throughout the ancient history of Israel. The Exodus from Egypt, wilderness wandering, struggles against hostile enemies, magnificent temple celebrations – the Psalm brings these historical memories together and unites them under the refrain: “God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor” (cf. Ps. 68:11).
An important spiritual exercise is to recall the events of our own lives and how they reflect God’s goodness to us. In a world that has become dominated by constant passive input on screens, conscious exercise of recollection is all the more important. Like Israel’s history, our own stories include tragedies, loss, and wandering as well as joyous celebrations, but looking back allows us to see and understand more deeply that God is at work in all of it. We can look back on even the moments we have felt most distant from God and find the benefit of hindsight and the grace of the Holy Spirit show a new perspective, one of God’s providential care even in the midst of hardships. And that helps us in our current struggles that make it hard to trust God. Our own memories can provide the evidence that he has been faithful and the assurance that he will continue to provide for our needs.
-Fr. Nate
