Remember When...

Remember. With all of the millions of things that come across our consciousnesses each day, it is really quite remarkable that we remember anything at all. One of the things I love to do every so often is to try to remember my earliest memories. Some of these early memories are happy such as the one I have of running down a grassy hill with my head just barely above the grass trying to keep up with my brother Sam and cousin Alex in Soda Springs, Idaho. Some of these memories are much less happy such as the time my mom first dropped me off at school, and I realized she had left while I was in a sand box.

Memories are so interesting. While I am certainly no expert on memory, one thing I do know is that our memories do play a role in shaping our current and future behavior.

In The Book of Mormon, we read of the signs that took place in the Americas to signify to the people that Christ had been born in Bethlehem. These signs were amazing to the people! One such sign was that the night that Christ was born, the sun set, but the sky didn't get dark. It stayed light all through the night and remained light as the sun rose the next day. The people were astonished and many came to believe in Christ. However, we read in the very next chapter following these signs that "the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts" (3 Nephi 2:1).

When it comes to our faith, I think that remembering is imperative. Our ability to remember spiritual experiences impacts our current and future decisions spiritually. I believe this dramatic example of the Nephites helps to illustrate this point. When they failed to remember how they felt fully at the time these signs took place, they began to question the validity of these experiences and their subsequent faith. I think we all do this if we are not careful. I think that for this reason, it is important that we either write down how we feel during spiritual experiences shortly after they have occurred or do a thorough job of reminding ourselves frequently.

The main idea for us all this week is simply that we need to make a point to remember. Many of us have had spiritual experiences in our lives but the passage of time can cause us to forget these tender experiences. I would just invite us all to make a point to remember Him who never forgets us. I know that as we make efforts to do so, our Heavenly Father who wants so desperately to be a part of our lives will help us remember Him.

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