Even as a child, I easily became irritated with how quickly people could forget things, especially when trials would arise. One of my earliest memories of this is from watching The Ten Commandments each year with my family when it came on television (no DVD’s back then – not even VHS tapes). Every time it got to the scene where the Israelites would start “running wild” because Moses took too long to come down from the mountain, I’d have the desire to scream at the television: “DO YOU NOT REMEMBER THE PILLAR OF FIRE – THE RED SEA?!?!?! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?!?!”. I didn’t understand how they could have such short memories. After all, it happened just TEN MINUTES AGO!

Years later, when my Dad was forced to stay home due to a terminal lung disease, he took up watching soap operas. I would regularly visit with him for lunch, and would receive an update on the latest happenings in Pine Valley, Springfield and Oakdale. Once again, I would become frustrated with the couple (there was at least one on every soap opera) going through their “Romeo & Juliet” saga. For the past 20 years,they had been madly in love and wanted nothing more than a life together. And even though meddling family members, others in town who had their own love agenda, and the latest tragedy, had kept them apart, their commitment and love for each other endured and even strengthened.

Even after the tragic explosion that left him in a coma for two or three seasons, he finally woke to find that she had become a missionary in a remote village in some far off country that was now in the middle of a rebellion – so he had to travel there to rescue her. And rescue her he did.

Then, in the last show of season 12, they FINALLY took that walk down the isle – him with an eye patch and her in a wheelchair – and the viewers got the marriage they had been waiting so many years to see.

Unfortunately, once the couple got what they wanted, their commitment began to wane. By the middle of the next season, these star-crossed lovers were no longer content. The relationship, which they had fought so long and hard for, was no longer enough. She (miraculously free of the wheelchair) wanted children – he didn’t. He wanted to give up the company presidency to become an artist of the spoken word. But she preferred the mansion, country club, flashy jewelry and designer clothes. They lost the desire that had for so long drawn them to each other. They forgot about all they had gone through to protect each other and make a life together. Difficult times arose and all they wanted was instant gratification – happiness in the moment. To make matters worse, the new neighbor – a recent widower – was obnoxiously wealthy, the kind of handsome you only see on the cover of a romance novel and, oh yes, interested in her.

A quick fix – that’s all these people ever wanted. But I found it was very easy to fall into the same trap. Reassuring memories aren’t always so easy to find when you’re in the middle of turmoil. All you want is a quick fix. That’s why I started a journal. I wanted to remember, and regularly reflect on, all the remarkable things God had been doing and the changes He was bringing about in me.

Keeping a journal, no matter how informal it might be, is a wonderful way to keep your focus on God instead of your circumstances. And it’s a reminder of all the times God answers your prayers or teaches you something new.