The Things You Must Not Forget

“Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.”

―Proverbs 4:21

I remembered it like it was yesterday.

It was Sunday, I was standing in the driveway of the parsonage for the Church Ministries Director located on the Mauldin Campmeeting in South Carolina, where I was living at the time.

It was early, the sun just beginning to dissipate the morning mist and before me – down in a small valley – were stately mature pines growing and across the way was a beautiful pond and I was talking to my dad.

It was our Sunday morning call that had been going on for decades.

Before praying for me, dad said:

“Son, you can always trust Jesus.”

And then, after the prayer he said goodbye with these words: “Keep looking up! Our redemption draweth nigh.”

I’m sure I have heard my dad say that last phrase over a thousand times in my life (probably thousands of times). But no more. Dad, suffering from dementia, seldom talks anymore.

Even back in 2016 dad had already started on that tough journey with dementia and I treasured those Sunday calls for I knew back then that they’d not last forever and I didn’t want to forget.

So…

I wrote it down (or rather typed it down). I added that precious moment to my coveted “quotation file” that I have been adding quotes too for decades.

I read through that quote file every year, adding quotes as I go along.

When I read dad’s quotes this morning I was ever so glad I did.

The ONE THING for today: There are some things so important that you do not want to forget. And then there are some things so valuable, so treasured, that you must not forget. Develop systems to make sure that you don’t.

A good place to start is to journal every day (and go back and read your entries) and to keep a quotation file for recording things others said or wrote that you do not want to forget.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash