IN LESS than two years, I will be a senior citizen. I look forward to receiving my senior card and enjoying the perks that come with it. This is one of the upsides to aging. I know there could be more. We can talk about that another time.
If you ask me what I am afraid of, at this stage in my life, I would have to say, “to be stricken with Alzheimer’s when I am older, if I am blessed to reach 70 or more.”
My mother is now 87 years old. She has been suffering Alzheimer’s disease for more than twelve years now. She has been living with my family here in Baguio for ten of those twelve years, since my father died. God has blessed us with very caring and compassionate caregivers and nurses. I cannot complain. To top it all, my husband Mike, has treated my mother like his own.
So, where is this seeming “fear” coming from? Two things. First, from seeing my mother, suffer the humbling and debilitating symptoms of the disease. Second, from the reality that I am my mother’s daughter, and I am becoming more and more like her, especially on being forgetful.
It is becoming more often that I forget where I place my keys, my cellphone, or even my purse. Sometimes, I even forget where I am going, what I am supposed to say or what I am looking for. I find myself tracing my steps to remember. But then, I forget what I am supposed to remember. Funny, yes. But, frightening, too.
So even if it is sometimes irritating to be told over and over and over again to put them (keys and cellphone especially) in the same place always, I really ought to REMEMBER and follow Mike. “Write down important things,” is another advice I know I ought to obey. Tell me please, what vitamins should I take?
To look at the brighter side, forgetting has its upside, too. In fact, there are things we ought to forget. Things we regret. Dwelling on what we could or should have done. Things in the past that hurt and embitter us or keep us from moving forward.
But then again, sometimes forgetting is not the solution, if it were even possible. For most instances, forgiveness is the answer, both for ourselves and the others who have hurt us.
It is when we see the hand of God in the events of our lives (even in our own mistakes and the meanness of others,) that we can look beyond our past hurts and have the grace to either forget or forgive and intentionally leave them behind. It has been said that the past cannot be changed, but it can be redeemed. With this, let us keep in mind Romans 8:28, “All things (even our forgetfulness) work together unto good, to those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose.”
If “becoming forgetful” becomes inevitable in our life, may we have the grace to remember what are truly most important.
My dearest fellow becoming forgetful readers,
Fear not! We have a God who remembers what’s important. We have a God who redeems us. Let us turn to Him and surrender our fears.
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. - Isaiah 49:15-16