Over the holidays, I’ve been transferring our old family photos, slides, and movies to digital so they can be preserved and shared. The fifty-year-old slides slowly change color, the pictures fade, and the movies become brittle. It’s a lot of work to copy each one (there are thousands) and lovingly restore them.
Why bother? Because memories are powerful! Jesus told the Ephesian Christians, “I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (Revelation 2:3 – 4). So what did the Lord advise them to do? “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first” (v. 5).
I’ve noticed two dangers in relationships. First, we grow tired of one another. The “same ol’ same ol’” gets old. There is a real need to “spice things up.” Second, sometimes we take each other for granted, which leads us to take liberties. Do we leave our clothes on the floor or our dishes on the TV tray, knowing someone else will pick up after us? It’s time to remember.
When couples come to me for counseling, I will often ask them to bring their wedding album with them. We stop and look at the pictures and remember how things used to be. Remembering is powerful!
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!” (George Santayana-1905). In a 1948 speech to the House of Commons, Winston Churchill changed the quote slightly when he said (paraphrased), “those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”
Take time today to remember.