From my heart to Yours: Short-Term memory .. Not so bad afterall

People tell me all the time that I have really poor memory. I just keep on forgetting things. They always make it sound like a bad thing. But of lately I’ve begun to question this. I now wonder if it’s a gift from God, rather than a fault I own. I’ll try to explain why.

Most of the times I just can’t seem to remember what someone had asked me to do for them. Maybe I forgot to send them an email or perhaps I forgot to carry the pictures for them on the jump drive or it is that I forgot to pass on that message to my wife. Haaaaa…there’s a lot more but I keep forgetting them..LOL

Anyway, by definition,

“short-term memory involves the things that we are thinking about and aware of at the current moment. In most cases, information that is kept in short-term memory can be stored for approximately 20 to 30 seconds. However, this time period can be even shorter if the individual is distracted or if rehearsal and maintenance of the information is prevented. According to memory experts, we can store approximately four chunks or pieces of information in short-term memory.”

So it seems at the current moment I do remember what you said/did; what I should do/email/carry…etc. that’s all in my short-term memory; providing I’m not distracted by the computer or some nice music. But they are soon forgotten and quickly disappear if I don’t write them down.

But again I say this may not be such a bad thing! I’m now beginning to look back (with some difficulty of memory) and I can faintly recognize that a lot of times persons have done or said hurtful things to me. Yet no sooner than it happened I pretty much forgive them and forget about it.

Not everyone is like this. So this is trait which I am happy to possess. Yes – forgiveness and short-term memory go hand in hand. I think in our lives they should be married.

If I were to have the long standing memory of an elephant then it’s quite likely that I wouldn’t be so quick to forgive. Hurts would linger for longer periods, tempers would flare, and I would walk around with that pushed out lower lip my wife says I have whenever I’m vexed.

However, it gets so much simpler when I think of how the great omniscient God of heaven deliberately causes our sins to be remembered no more. And this happens just as soon as we bow our heads and request forgiveness.

Micah 7:19 (KJV) - "He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

I’ve gotta thank God for that. He’ll get upset with us but yet His love endures. And as soon as we ask for pardon he forgets all about it.

Till we meet again .. Have a great day! :)