The Gift of Memory

My Christmas tree is probably like yours; decorated with ornaments that have been collected over the years. I love angel ornaments!

Each year as I hang different “angels” on the tree I remember fondly the friends that have given them to me. And as they are hung in a special place I pray for that dear friend or family member.

I was thinking this morning, if each ornament were a picture my tree would be filled with images of those I hold dear all year long! You know God has done that – He has drawn our picture in the palm of His hands.

“But the Lord says,
“Can a woman forget her baby? Can she forget the child who came from her body? Even if she can forget her children, I cannot forget you.

16 I drew a picture of you on my hand. You are always before my eyes…” Isaiah 49:15-16 ERV

He not only holds us in His heart but He keeps our pictures close so He can always be looking at us! See He is a loving father. If heaven had a mantel all our pictures would be on it and He would be glad to show them off to the angels.

When our children were still at home I made three new Christmas ornaments each year, one for each child and when they grew up and left home each of them received a box of ornaments. I’m not sure if they still have those, to be honest some weren’t very good, but there was a memory attached with each one.

But the thing about God’s memory is what He chooses to forget. He is omniscient so He knows all things, things from the beginning and the events of the future. He knows it all. However, He allows himself the opportunity to forget.

“Here is the new agreement that I, the Lord, will make with the people of Israel:

“I will write my laws
on their hearts and minds.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

34 “No longer will they have to teach one another to obey me. I, the Lord, promise that all of them will obey me, ordinary people and rulers alike. I will forgive their sins and forget the evil things they have done.” Jeremiah 31:33 & 34 CEV

How can He do this? Why does He choose to forget? God can do this because he’s God and the answer to the why is because he is love! We’re told in I Corinthians 13, the love chapter, that love thinks the best of a person at all times and that love doesn’t hold on to things that someone has done wrong. That is a perfect description of God the Father. His memory is filled with the good we’ve done and He has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west.

So I ask you to exercise your memory today. Follow God’s example and wipe from it those times that you’ve been wronged and chose to think the best. Remember with a heart of love today and take time to thank the Lord for the way He sees you. Smile, he’s drawn your picture on his hands.