I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:14, NKJV

Have you stopped lately to praise God for the amazing assertion the psalmist makes in Psalm 139 about how intimately involved God is in the procreation process? You are the personal craftmanship of God. You! There is no one quite like you. You are indeed one of a kind.

There are over eight billion people in the world, and all of them, each of them, are different. You are unique, created by God and given, at the moment of conception, the DNA roadmap that will determine every facet of your being. Your eye color, hair color, body build, sex, etc. are there, mapping out the life you will live in great detail. As you grow, you will make decisions and choices that are in alignment with who you are. Why do some choose vanilla over chocolate, tea over coffee, pizza over a hamburger, milk over soda? It is because of the DNA map that motivates you to do certain things and not others, to be attracted to one person and not another. You, yes YOU, are an amazing, personal creation of God.

I would like to focus on one aspect of our being that we all have in common: memory. Granted, some persons have a truly astounding memory. It is as if they are incapable of forgetting anything. This is not the kind of memory I am referring to. Rather I am speaking of the fact that we are all capable of remembering.

Our memory plays a large role in our ability to form habits. We do not have to be told to do those things that we do every day. We do them out of habit, which is based on our memory. We remember to brush our teeth, to take a bath, to eat our meals at certain times of the day, to go to work without having to be told the way, to do our job without having to be retrained time after time. Memory is truly a cherished gift given to us by our Creator.

We remember people. There are those with whom we have crossed paths, and every time we remember them, we are flooded with memories that bring certain emotions. Perhaps some bring a sense of tremendous joy, while others are a source of heartache. Some bring about a feeling of thanksgiving and gratitude, while others bring a sense of pain and remorse.

We also remember those who have made an indelible impact on our lives. These should cause us to pause for a time of prayer and praise to our Father for allowing us to be touched in such powerful ways by these people from our past.

Memory – a prized possession for those who still have it. But sadly, one of the most devastating things that can happen to a person – in my estimation – is the loss of their ability to remember. Debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s or dementia are a terrible thing to witness. My Mother began to show signs of Alzheimer’s toward the end of her life. As I would visit her, I began to notice signs of the disease taking its horrible toll on her mind. My sister started making notes and taping them on the walls of my Mother’s room, reminding her of some of the simple, everyday things we need to remember. But with all of these tactics to exercise her memory, the disease continued to take its toll.

I knew the day would probably come when I would walk into her room, and she would now know me. I prayed that day would never come, but it did. The memory of this day is etched forever in my mind. When I walked into her room, I noticed a blank stare looking at me. I walked over, sat on the edge of her bed, and wept. I knew she had no idea who I was. I began to ask her questions: Do you know what day it is? Do you remember what you had for breakfast? She could not remember even the simplest of things. And finally, after several more questions of this nature, I asked, Do you have any children? If anything should jog her memory, this should be it. My sister visited her every day – often more than once in a day. Surely, I thought, she would at least remember Ada. But, no, she didn’t remember any of her three children.

I thought I was prepared for that day, as I realized with certainty it would eventually happen. But how wrong I was. Nothing could have prepared me for that blank stare. Nothing could have prepared me for the stabbing pain I experienced in that moment when time stood horribly still.

Thankfully, this was not a permanent loss of memory. She had days in which she carried on conversations with full recollection, but there were others when she struggled to remember hardly anything.

Have you stopped to thank God for this amazing gift? Can I encourage you today to never take it for granted, because we never know when it might possibly, quickly, and permanently be gone. Could I also encourage you to pray for those who are struggling with this awful disease? And finally, could I encourage you to pray for the caregivers of those who lovingly stand by the side of those who are struggling under the weight of this horrific erosion of their memory.

Until next time:

Blessings!