Remember, Remember

I have an awful memory.  Both my short term and long term memory just doesn't seem to work properly.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, forgetting things is one of my least favorite parts of mortality.  The scriptures are filled with verses on the topics of remembering and forgetting.  "O man, remember, and perish not" (Mosiah 4:30).  "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation" (Helaman 5:12).  "Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?" (1 Nephi 15:11).  And so forth.

Because my journal keeping has never been the greatest, there are probably many things in my life that I have forgotten.  However, because I have made some effort to keep a journal I have been able to remind myself of events I may have forgotten otherwise.  Some of my past blog posts have done the same thing for me.
As I reread what I have written in the past I realize a few things.  First, I really have changed.  Sometimes I feel like I'm the same person I've always been and I've never made any improvement.  Thank goodness I'm more mature than I was in junior high or high school!  Second, I see how frequently God has blessed my life.  I was very good at writing about those instances in my journal and I am so thankful for that.  Third, looking back gives me a bigger perspective. I can see that God has a plan for my life and that He has been guiding me throughout it.  He sees the bigger picture.  He knows what is going to happen in my life months and years from now and He is preparing me for those things right now.

If you don't keep a record of your life, I would encourage you to do so.  I am just now starting to truly realize the value of having a journal.  I wish I had been better at consistently writing in it, but I am so glad that I at least wrote something.  One of the challenges we must overcome in this life is our weakness in remembering.  If we wish to improve our memory and see more clearly what God has done for us and what He may have in store for us, we ought to keep an up-to-date record of our lives.