"I've a grand memory for forgetting." – Robert Louis Stevenson

I can be forgetful from time to time. I love post-its, and I typically have a bevy of them plastered around the bottom of my computer screen or in my notebooks. I often end up with multiple grocery lists, because I'll remember something I need later and not know where the original list disappeared. These things are important to me, so I create memory markers so I won't forget about them.

But this past week, I discovered something pretty jarring. Somewhere along the line, I've let groceries and to-do items become more memorable than God. Where are my post-its about my answered prayers? Where have I put my lists of all the times God has answered my prayers, helped me out of a scrape or just encouraged me? When God champions a success in my life, I let it slip into the dim recesses of disregard.

What brought this discrepancy to mind was a discussion I had with two colleagues about baptism and what it symbolizes. Besides being a personalized expression of trust in Jesus, baptism can also serve as a life marker or refuge to fall back upon when troubles start crowding around us. My thoughts immediately went to Robert Robinson's text for the great hymn "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing":

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I've come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

These lines come from the pages of 1 Samuel, following a providential rout of the Philistines:

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, "Till now the Lord has helped us." (1 Samuel 7:12 ESV)

The Israelites, too, had forgotten about everything God had done for them and had resorted to worshiping false gods. They had already been thrashed on several occasions by the Philistines and had even had the ark of the Lord stolen in battle. Only after God called the people to repentance and judged them were they allowed to overcome their foes. Samuel then set up an ebenezer (literally "stone of help") as a constant reminder of God's grace and assistance.

I like to think I've got a better handle on remembrance and obedience than the Israelites did, but I'm no better. I need to set up ebenezers of my own, even if they're just scribbles plastered on post-its, to remind me of God's daily interest and intervention in my life.

What has God done for you that you need to remember and be thankful for today?

Noah Jacobus, Brand Manager