‘It doesn’t feel like I was ever eight.’ Ellie exclaimed only a few weeks after her birthday. She had been waiting for her ninth birthday the day for months and months and had found it difficult to to be patient. Now that she had reached this wonderful age, she wanted to forget that she had ever been eight. I can hardly imagine what it will be like when she reaches double figures.
What is the secret to this remembering and forgetting? Ideally we should remember the good things of the past, like the summer holidays which seemed to go on for ever. Remember that in our imagination it never rained in the summer months. Remember the feeling of a safe, loving family that many of us had and the friends that were going to be best friends for ever.
Forgetting is also an art to be established; forgetting the days when we couldn’t go out to play. Forgetting the friends who became enemies and not remembering the unkind words we received along the way. As each year adds up there is more forgetting to be done. God also remembers and forgets. Jeremiah 31:34 ‘i will remember their sins no more.’