February 3rd - Proverbs 3:1-2

Proverbs 3:1-2 My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. What’s your memory like? Time and again, I trudge upstairs to get something and haven’t a clue what I’m looking for by the time I get there! Pathetically, I try to find something else useful to do while I’m there to justify the journey. Forgetting things is part of the human condition and always has been, and the writer of Proverbs often addresses the issue. He urges us not to forget what we’ve been taught, whether it was by our parents or our spiritual teachers. This involves planning. We need to pepper our lives with reminders of essential truths. We need to evolve a rhythm to our lives so that we are repeatedly reminded of what matters most. From earliest times, Jews had a variety of articles which gave them a constant reminder of the law. Phylacteries are small leather boxes which contain the Hebrew texts on vellum and are worn by some Jewish men at morning prayer as a reminder to keep the law. On the door frame of their homes, they affix a mezuzah, a decorative case containing the Jewish prayer: “Hear O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” It's good for us all to build into our lives reminders of God’s love and faithfulness – prompts that will keep us on track and prevent us from forgetting about God. It doesn’t matter how we do this. Some people have Bible verses on their walls or on fridge magnets or receive verses by email or app. What matters is that we don’t forget. Supremely, we have the communion service or Eucharist, which Jesus gave to us as a way of ensuring that we would not forget his sacrificial death for us on the cross. Question What do you find the most effective way of reminding you of God’s love? Prayer Loving Father, help me never to forget your perfect love for me and for this needy world. Amen