Memories and Emotions…..

The past. Something we all have. The younger we are, the fresher the past, as it is still recent. The more years we have added onto the calendar, the more distant is the past. The past is past, but it is over? Do we live in the past, or in the present? I was talking to someone recently, and they were telling me, that they had a dream, and in that dream, of their past, all of a sudden came a name in the dream, A name they were called and teased with, at high school. It made them upset. And they woke up. When I was told this, immediately7 came into my mind, two events, then more flooded in. A name caller in the Bible. Shimei, cursed David when David ran from Absalom. This was just before 979 BC. Shimei cursed David as David ran from Absalom. David returned to his palace upon Absalom’s death 2 Sam 19: 9. In 2 Sam 19: 21ff David meets Shimei who cursed him. He lets him live, for now. But at his death bed, David charges Shimei to be struck down, after 3 years Solomon to kill Shimei 1 Kings 2: 46. That’s just 3 years. David’s nephew, Joab, was with David, commander, for over 40 years, the entire rule of David. David disliked Joab for many acts against David. 40 years, imagine, he disliked Joab, family. And on his deathbed, David charged for Joab to be killed 1 Kings 2: 9. Point? Events happen. They hurt us. Whether 3 years or 40 years. Whether stranger or family. We attach emotions to to events. We can forget the event. But then something happens, that brings back all the memory of past events and along with that is the pain of the attached emotions. It just takes a trigger to set us off in a spin. Imagine, 40 years of painful memories. How do you reconcile Lk 23: 34, with the hurt? Forgiveness of what happened forty years ago- its forgiven. But the personal pain, emotion, of the living, literal reliving, the hurtful pain, this is difficult to reconcile. Did this person forgive the high school name callers? In one sense, just so nothing to forgive. Nothing. But the pain of what was said, lingers on. The memory returns, the hurt, pain, anger, emotion, embarrassment all return. We cannot have a memory wipe. Not possible. At least not yet. And reliving things, events, we also trigger the emotions of that time. We can’t help it. That is who we are.

MCC Admin

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