What we choose to remember

Chronicling everyday wonders

I have memory on my mind. This has multiple causes. First, I have been listening to a book written by a neuroscientist on the nature of memory and the brain. She points out that we have myriads of experiences each day and only a tiny fraction get formed into memories. I took this as a challenge.

Second, I was given two of my late mother’s journals recently, from when she was age 15 through 25. They are a treasure to me. The entries are small and succinct, focusing on people and activities. What she records says much about who she was: positive and relational.

 

Then there’s this blog. For those who don’t remember, the verse from which I get the title is Mark 8:18, where Jesus asks three questions of his disciples:

“Don’t you have eyes to see? And ears to hear? And can’t you remember?”

So, I have set a new goal for myself for 2026. I will keep what I’m calling a book of Memory Moments. This is more than a straight-up journal – which I’ve been doing for decades. In this unlined sketchbook, I will endeavor to write and draw a single moment from each day worth remembering.

What kinds of everyday wonders do I expect? Throughout each year, usually on my daily walks, I find extraordinary ordinary sights. Let me show you some recent ones.

While waiting in a building, I noticed the reflection of light over a water fountain looked like flames.

I crested the hill where our house sits to find the winter sun throwing a ludicrously long shadow of my body.

The wash of recent rain formed an exquisite pattern of pine needles on the sidewalk.

The light above our dining room table shone a perfect star inside the saltshaker.

In between grandsons’ soccer games, I wandered to discover this dramatic blossom, which I learned was named thornapple or devil’s trumpet.

Sometimes what I see make me laugh. Like this leaf refusing to fall in autumn, hanging on for dear life.

Or this backyard smoker which looks like an angry, voracious robot.

These are remarkable finds. I don’t expect to uncover such treasures every day. What I’m wondering, though, is if I can find a daily moment with just enough significance to be worthy of fashioning into a meaningful memory. Can I come back to each one I sketch, say in five years, and re-create that occasion in my mind?

The trick, says the author of this book, is to invest these “episodic memories” with significance and emotion. I think to do that, we must first become aware. Notice things. That may be a bit of what Jesus is getting to with his reference to eyes and ears.

But the best way to add emotion investment in a moment is to see it as a gift from our loving Lord. As we start to train ourselves to expect these little celebrations of light and texture and, yes, even humor, God delights to provide them.

And our remembering them becomes a way to keep enjoying them with him.

Lord, you lavishly give us reminders of your attentive love. Open our eyes and ears to them each day. Help us to remember and celebrate these little wonders so that we might enjoy them with you.

Reader: Do you have an example of a recent ordinary wonder? If so, or if you come across one soon, please tell me about it!