May 31, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    Memorial: something set up to remind people of a person or an event. Memorial Day may be a convenient start-of-summer holiday, but its purpose is clear: it is a day set-aside to remember the men and women who gave their lives in defense of our national freedom.
    That’s a tough assignment, in a culture that is suffering from historic dementia. Too many of us didn’t pick up the story line in American History class; we’ve been under the spell of revisionists who have interpreted the American drama through lenses that lead to apology for our national past instead of the celebration of our epic progression.
    Memory is a funny thing; it isn’t a quality that develops on its own. Memories are the deposits made in our mind, principally by the exceptional occurrences, not the mundane.
    Moshe Bar is director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. He writes – for laymen, like me – about the curious function of the brain in archiving life as memorable history. He says that the majority of life is lost when we turn the corner; we only store in our long-term file what we deem “important.” How does something qualify for inclusion?
    According to Bar, “…novelty is the primary, if not the primal, trigger of learning. What we learn, what stays in memory, are novel bits of information…” When our lives become predictable and routine, our brain doesn’t waste the space on the hard drive. That’s why – according to Bar – you cannot remember what you did two Saturdays ago…
    Research is most-often forward-looking; it’s progressive. Remembering is – by definition – backward-looking; that doesn’t make it regressive, but rather, wise(“having or showing experience”).
    If “God” is the subject, you may find evidence of Him in the research lab, but whatever is found there will build on the foundation of the memories of Him that are inscribed in the parchments.

    Solomon the Wise knew that was essential: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1.) The God discoveries are best made from youth, before life pollutes the mind.
    Memories include illustrations… but the ones that really add to life’s treasure trove are rooted in the clarity of conversation. According to today’s Wall Street Journal, “Modern researchers think that storing and retrieving memories require language skills that don’t develop until age 3 or 4…” Your ability to chisel memories into the granite of your mind grows with your vocabulary.
    The Apostle Paul was working to highlight the memorable in the leaders he mentored, without leaving the essence of his message in question: “Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal…” (2 Timothy 2:7-9.)
    The lament over America’s decline in the classroom is a problem in school… and, a problem in Sunday School. Jay Leno – in his “Jay Walking,” man on the street interviews with trendy young adults – exposes the laughable, but lamentable, decline in American awareness. If I did a Bob version – in the church courtyard of most big churches on any Sunday – what would we find to be the mean-average level of biblical memory?
    The Lord Jesus weighs in: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.   Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” (Revelation 3:2-3.)
    Memory is mission-critical. What are you working to retain in your life history file?

Bob Shank