Remember All

Before the Israelites entered the land God had promised to give them, the land of Canaan, Moses charged them to ‘remember’ the Lord their God in the land He was going to give them (Deuteronomy 8).He was in effect asking them to remember the good things the Lord had done from the time that they were in Egypt to that particular time.

The Israelites of course did not obey but later on forgot their God and rebelled against him. This led them to end up having their land overtaken by foreign armies, their cities destroyed and the people sent into exile in Babylon.

Reading that made me think of how easy it is for us human beings to forget the good that someone does for us. Most of us have experienced someone we have done a great good to acting bad and being rude towards us at some point.

I personally have had trouble in my relationships with my Grandparents. They are a reasonably old couple so they don’t really do much on their own but rather ask you to do this, then do that, then try this but also that. Because they ask me to do things for them a lot on a daily basis, and catch me at a time when I want to relax or am doing my own thing, such requests usually irritated and angered me a great deal. I mean, some of the things they asked of me I’m pretty sure they could just as much do it themselves!

So when asked by either one of them for something at these bad moments, I would do it with a frown on my face to show my displeasure or give a quick retort that was bordering on the rude but without being rude. Deep inside I knew my attitude was not right. My relationship with them was strained and we did not usually talk freely even though we shared some laughs here and there. It got to the point where it started bugging me but I didn’t know what to do about it. I was exasperated.

That’s when one day I was thinking about the Israelites. The book of Jeremiah talks of them later on when they had entered the Promised Land. The Israelites after a while had forgotten their God. Speaking of the Israelite people in Jeremiah 2:8, God says to Jeremiah: ‘’The priests did not ask, ‘where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.”

It really bothered me when i read that, how could God’s people have forgotten him so much that they got to this point? I mean he performed many miracles for them in Egypt, he provided their entire tribe with food and water as they crossed the desert and he even fulfilled the promise he had made them to give them a land filled with milk and honey, not forgetting he got everyone of them across the Red Sea. All were impossible tasks by human power, how could they forget all these?

But in my head I started to think on how easy it is for us to forget the good others do for us and to some extent I understood them, it’s in human nature to forget. I therefore made a resolution right there that I would never forget the good my God does for me for if I do then I too will easily forsake and sin against him to the extent the Israelites found themselves at, I don’t want that.

I, however, did not stop there. I also resolved to remember the good that my fellow men do for me so that I am able to treat them well at all times. So now when my grandparents ask me for even the silliest of things I start recalling what they have done for me since birth, one by one. And immediately my attitude changes. I am able to do the work they asked of me without any bitterness or restraint in my heart.

This has spilled over to the way I talk to them and the way I treat them. I’m not perfect yet but I would say am a happier individual, and when I do something for them I do it freely without grumbling and this makes me happy. We are freer with each other now and there is no strain on our relationship.

Am reminded of a boy in the Harry Potter movies. He was called Neville Longbottom and he had a memory so bad he would forget the simplest of things. To help him with this his parents sent him while he was at school a transparent magical glass ball called a Rememberall. Every time he forgot something the ball would turn bright red and it would thereby notify him he forgot something.

Some of us need a Rememberall, we never remember the good any one does for us. I try to think of the good in everyone and I find myself treating them better and having a better attitude towards them, even strangers. You should try it, if you care!