“One should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a
~Balthasar Gracian.
As fallible human beings we have lapses — we make mistakes. Even if the environment is a hazardous one, we are still more or less as prone.
So, how many times have we been saved — times when sheer ‘luck’ stepped into the breach — from what would be, in other circumstances, death?
Yet, how often and how much do we thank God for such divine intercession?
By virtue of the fact we’re still alive, we’ve been physically saved innumerable times. That ought to cause us abundant gratefulness.
Because of this grace extended us, much pain has been averted. Our families and loved ones have also been saved — and we to each other, from much pain of grief.
When we think about the grief we could’ve experienced versus that which we have experienced, we can count ourselves truly fortunate.
Utilising Memories from ‘
When we recall the goodness of God to save us these ways — the kindness to make near-misses out of certain injuries — and this so many times we’ve lost count — we see for the first time in a long time just how our memories have failed us.
Still, we don’t readily forget the litany of inferno-related memories. Indeed, these tend to haunt us.
If we listen to the wisdom in the quote above, we hear the option that is given to us; we have to beat the temptation to slide wistfully into an inferno, and we know we can just as easily, though thoughtfully, enter into Paradise.
This is the recollection of memories of God-blessed events; the fortune commended to us by grace, never destined to be taken for granted. But take them for granted we do.
A fact in this world is that even the most unfortunate people had been blessed beyond their recognition. Still, we can find many of the world’s poorest and neediest of people actually happy.
Happiness seems to be less about actual blessing, and mostly about how good our memories are — in recalling paradise-related events — and how fluidly our hopes attend; one reconciled from our pasts, the other trusting our futures.
The fortunate life is the one seeing its good memories more vibrantly than the not-so-good. From these recollections, the pervasive nature of positive experience, a hearty hope is afforded for the foreseeable future.
One reason to be ever so thankful is we’ve been saved many times; we have the option to see this and validate these memories so we can indwell joy.
© 2011 S. J. Wickham.
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